Shinigami Haken High School
by NatStillLives
Summary: The serious one. The slightly phsychotic one. The flirty one. The calm one. The outgoing one. No better combination for a group of five best friends. But when the particular group in question attends a school for grim reapers, it's the perfect recipe for mischief. (Female Grell) (P.S. Ronnie is in it!)
1. The First Day Back

_Hi there! Yet another story with iamcalifornia! You know where to find the rest! Yep, it's also on her wattpad._

Warm, early-autumn breezes lingered in the air, occasionally gusting into me as I walked along the grey concrete sidewalks. I sighed, basking in the sun where it peaked out through the many tree leaves. I held tight onto my school bag that I slung over my shoulder. Whipping my hair out of my face as I adjusted my glasses, I ran over my schedule in my head. I had Biology first, followed by Language Arts, Business, and Career. I'd have fifth period off for lunch and a free period during sixth, then return for Math and Geography. I almost started mapping out what would be the best routes to take to each class when my thoughts were interrupted by someone yelling.

"William! Hey, William!" I slowed my pace at the sound of my name. Although I'd recognize his voice anywhere, I twisted my head to get a visual. His arm was raised high in the air to wave at me as he ran towards me. His black tie bounced off of the rest of his uniform with every step. He smiled and laughed, his green eyes glistening through his glasses in the sunlight. He caught up with me and joined me with a skip in his step.

"Hey, Ronnie." I greeted, flashing him a smile as I ruffled the short blond's hair. Although Ronald was an entire grade behind me, he had always gotten along better with my class, therefore leading to the two of us becoming good friends. I observed him, giving him the typical head-to-toe. His school uniform was thrown together lazily, his tie loose and his blazer unbuttoned. He carried his school bag at his side, letting it drag against the ground if he dipped his arm down too low. "You seem to be in a pretty good mood today." I noticed. "Have a good summer?"

Before the younger boy could answer, a loud honk errupted from behind us, accompanied by the revving of an engine. We turned around to see who had unknowingly interrupted our conversation to see a red convertible pulling up to the curb next to us. When the car had stopped, we watched as the driver adjusted her crimson-framed sunglasses up onto her forehead, revealing a pair of sparkling jade eyes staring us down. Her red lips curled into a smirk. "You guys need a ride? I know Mister Spears won't wanna be late for his first day of his senior year." She chimed.

Ronald and I gaped at each other in disbelief before laughing and piling into the back seats of the open-topped vehicle. Before driving onto the road, our chauffer pulled out a tube of cherry-red lipgloss from the tote in the seat next to her, applying it to her already plenty red lips in the rear-view mirror, her eyes focused on us.

Ronald sighed, kicking his white shoe-clad feet up onto the center console, sighing in relief as he rested his arms behind his head. "Thanks for the lift, Grell. Saved us a lot of walking, that for sure."

Not even accepting his gratitude, Grell forcibly shoved Ronald's feet off the console. "Not in this car, mister. It was a late seventeenth birthday present from my parents, you're not gonna just come in here and get everything dirty." she scolded, practically fuming. I almost expected to see steam pouring out of her ears and her face to turn as red as her hair with rage. Sighing and turning back to her wheel, Grell returned to her normal, perky self. "Now, are you boys ready to go?"

"Yeah," Ronnie and I responded in unison. The engine roared, but I was sure Grell was only doing that to show off what her latest car could do. I marveled at how easily she glided back onto the road when I remembered how she passed the Driver's Ed class with flying colors back in our sophmore year. I shuddered thinking back to that class, the only class I had ever failed in my life. The one little 'F' on my permanent record. I won't go into detail, but to say the least, my coordination wasn't up to par.

"So, seniors this year." Ronald said. "It sounds crazy, you guy's last year in high school." I could tell he was trying to make small talk, I appreciated him doing so. The car ride would've been a lot more awkward if he hadn't, even though the three of us were all well-acquainted friends.

"Well, it's not like William's gonna miss it for long, he's probably gonna go off to college when he's done here." Grell said with a shrug, her eyes trained on the road.

"Please," I scoffed. "And what'll you be doing, Grell?"

She laughed, throwing her head back slightly. "I've told you guys over and over, and yet you still ask! Once I graduate and get my diploma, I'm hoping on a plane to New York to perform on Broadway! Trust me boys, the next time you'll be seeing my name, it'll be in lights!" She exclaimed confidently, throwing one of her hands up to emphasive her words.

"That, or on the drama club sign up sheet." Ronald quipped. My hand flew to my mouth to help me resist from laughing at the crude joke. If one laughes at a sarcastic remark about Grell, she's ready to destroy them, friend or not. The consequences were worse if you made one, so Ronald was taking a lot of chances this morning.

Grell groaned and scoffed, flipping a lock of her long, red hair over her shoulder. "Rude, but not wrong." she added. "This year for drama, we're working on three different productions, which we'll be presenting in fall, winter, and spring. There's no way I'd miss out on that."

Ronald laughed, leaning back in the seat. "I couldn't act, even if it saved my life. That's why I'm sticking to basketball and track. What about you, Will? What're you gonna do this year?" he asked quizically, his attention focusing on me. I even saw Grell's eyes glance at me through the rear-view mirror before quickly jolting back to the road in front of her.

"Uh, I really haven't put any thought into it." I mumbled, staring down at my twiddling thumbs. I honestly had never been one of the students who went all-out with extracurricular activities, unlike Grell and Ronald, both of who's weekly schedules were jam-packed all year long. I was content with my studies, and that was that.

"Oh, come on, you've gotta have something planned!" Ronald pleaded.

"Why don't you run for class president?" Grell suggested. We had stopped at the red light, so it gave her a short time to speak. "I mean, you're a smart guy and you're pretty likable, Will. I bet you could do it." Ronald gave a short nod, expressing that he agreed.

"Well..."

"Think about it, Will. We haven't exactly had a good class president in a while." Grell said. The light turned green and she drove us furthur down the avenue. The school began to come into view.

"Aw, come on! Say yes!" Ronald begging, his eyes shining.

"Ronnie," I laughed, pushing him away. "You're not even in my class!"

"I know," he smiled. "But it'd still be cool to have my best friend be the class president of the graduating class!"

Ronald kept fantasizing about being friends with the class president as Grell maneuvered the red convertible into an open parking space close to the main door, guiding it along like a professional. She set the vehicle into park and removed her keys as she grabbed the tote that sat in the seat next to her. "Well, here we are. First day of the year." she stated as she exited the car, slamming the door shut behind her. Ronald and I followed after, and the three of us entered the school, preparing ourselves for a new year.

"Well, I see you guys. My locker's on the other side of the school, and I've gotta get to World History. See ya!" Ronald shouted. He departed from Grell and I, rushing through the hallway past crowds among crowds to find his first class and locker, which I presumed would be trashed in about a week.

Grell and I shared the same route. Luckily for us, we were placed in the same Biology, Language, Math, and Geology classes, even the same lunch hour. Our plans had us together for almost the entire day, with the exception of third and fourth period, which were reserved for electives. Of course, I was taking Business Management and Career Developement, while she had Drama and Home Ec. Thankfully at our school, sports and gym weren't a requirement, so we could devote our electives to other options.

"So, did you hear about the new kids?" Grell asked as we arrived at our lockers. Coincidentally, they were located right next to each other, since our last names of 'Spears' and 'Sutcliff' were so close together.

"New kids?" I asked as I swung the door open to my locker. After retriveing my binder from my bookbag, I lazily threw the school bag into the locker and closed the door with a slam.

"Yeah, I haven't heard much about them, but it's like they're insperable. Like twins attached at the hip or something" Grell said, her words oozing with gossip. "They're both Juniors, so Ronnie'll probably meet them today. With his charm, he might even try to befriend them." She joined me as I began my walk down the hallway to the Biology room.

"I guess we'll just have to find out, then." I said. I twisted the handle to the door, swinging it open. I held it open for Grell, who entered inside before me. The first bell hadn't rang yet, so the only other people in the room were a few other students who were chatting away, and our teacher, who was hunched over a laptop, working away typing something. I recognized him as Mr. Ash Landers, the same teacher I had for last year's biology. I groaned, he was the kind of teacher you didn't want to mess with when he was in a bad mood. Sitting down in one of the open chairs just as the bell chimed, I was ready for the new year.

The rest of my day flew by in a blur. Mr. Lander's class didn't turn out as awful as I thought, he was pretty enthusiastic for the first day and a new year. Grell and I had Miss Angelina Dalles, a young woman who often sported red, for our Language Arts teacher. We split up after that for our electives, and luckily for me, I had Mr. Vincent Phantomhive for both Business and Career. It took me by shock to shee him sitting behind the desk in the classroom, he hadn't been teaching at our school for several years, but of course it was a pleasant surprise to find him back.

I met Grell back at our lockers. She was rambling about how much her drama teacher, Mr. Aleister Chamber-Druitt, pampered her and adored her and her acting abilities as we walked to the cafeteria, but I paid no mind to anything she said. As we paid for our lunches, my eyes scanned the room and I spotted Ronald. Thankfully, the seniors and juniors shared the fourth-period lunch. He sat at a table on the other side of the room, gesturing us over with a wave of his hand. With him sat two students, who I couldn't identify from that far away.

"Looks like he met the new guys," Grell leaned over and whispered in my ear. Knowing Ronald, he already either captured them with his charisma or forced them to sit with him. Possibly both. Grell must've been think the same thing, because when I looked down at her, her face expressed the same thoughts. She sighed, shaking her head, her red ponytail flying with each moment. "I guess we'll only find out."


	2. The New Kids and Detention

_My writing buddy and I are done with the next chapter! So this chapter is also on iamcalifornia's wattpad!_

Grell grabbed my arm and drug me over to the table that Ronnie had imprisoned the new kids at. Their backs were to Grell and I, all I could see was the back of their heads. The new kids looked like polar opposites. The taller male appeared either 5' 11" or 6 feet. Half of his gold-blonde hair was done in neat, tidy cornrows; while the rest of his locks hung freely. Beside him was a smaller boy that was at least two heads shorter than the first. He was a brunette; had a small build, and looked like he was so fragile that he would break at any moment.

Ronnie was talking intently to the pair before he noticed us. He looked up and pushed his glasses up before saying hi. "How's it going William, Grell?" Grell tried to glomp Ronald, but my reflexes saved him. I grabbed her arm and ushered her to a seat next to Ronnie. He mouthed a word of thanks.

"So Ronnie," Grell asked, "who would these two hunks be?" She pointed to the pair that we had assumed were the new kids. The smaller of the two blushed and hid behind the blonde, I instantly got the feeling he was one of those shy kids.

Ronnie jumped in to introduce them, "This guy right here is Eric," he motioned to the tall blonde one, "and his friend is Alan." The smaller of the two waved sheepishly, hiding back with his friend Eric. Grell was right, the two were practically insperable.

"So," I asked, "how has your first day been?" I tried to sound casual, but my voice came out tense and choppy. Alan stiffened up a little and Eric protectively moved closer to him. Grell next to me smiled. Some part of me knew she was silently screaming that they would make a cute couple. She gripped my arm and started whisper-squealing, and I knew she was going into what Ronnie and I affectionately called 'fangirl mode'. "Grell," I whispered, "are you ok?"

Knowing my friend, she would have a massive nosebleed soon. She always did when she saw cute couples. "No," she whispered back, then loudly announced, "I'll be right back, I'm going to the ladies room." With that, Grell walked out to the restroom.

"That was weird," Eric said, glancing at Grell as she disappeared out of the cafeteria doors.

"You have no idea," I muttered as I pushed my glasses up. Ronnie began talking about homework assignments, and my mind drifted off. Both of the new kids had glasses. Alan's glasses were thin-rimmed and black. Eric's glasses were slightly thicker, but just as black as Alan's. They both had identical vivid green eyes.

"You coming?" Ronnie had interrupted my thoughts. He flipped his hair up out of his face with a puff of breath.

"What was that?" I asked. "I didn't catch the first part." My glasses slid down a little, and I pushed them up with a huff of disdain.

"Sorry bro," Ronnie said, "I'm hosting a 'Back To School' party at my house tonight at seven. Wanna come?"

I nodded, "I'll bring Grell." Ronnie turned to the new kids.

"What do you two say," Ronnie interrogated, "you guys in?" Eric shook his head no. Ronald groaned, then attempted to persuade them further. "It'll be a great way to meet people."

"I don't know about Alan," Eric said with a glance to Alan, "but I have detention."

"Detention?" Everyone glanced up to see Grell. "What'd you do?" Grell asked, sitting back down next to me. Thankfully, she had gotten her 'fangirl mode' under control.

"I...uh..." Eric stuttered, "I kind of-"

"It was my fault!" Alan interrupted. "Eric was standing up for me!" He looked like he was going to cry. Eric patted his friends head to calm him down.

"I punched someone," Eric admitted. "That inconsiderate scumbag called Alan a 'gay little girl'! Alan was crying, and I got a mad at the kid."

"So cute, you're so protective!" Grell squealed. I shot her a death glare, silencing anymore random fangirl spells. She shot the look right back and stuck out her tongue, as if to say you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do

"So," Ronnie asked, "how about you, Alan?"

"I don't know," Alan said awkwardly glancing away from Ronnie's stare, "I'm not too good with people, and Eric won't be there."

"Go ahead, Alan," Eric told Alan, "I can find my way to the dorm-room alone."

"But Eric!" Alan protested, "you're missing out, and it's my fault!" Eric smiled sweetly. The smile almost bridged over to evil. I mean, you put a happy face on a huge dude like that, it looks plain scary.

"Fine, Alan," Eric agreed, "it's your decision." Alan smiled cheerfully when he won the argument. Eric must really like Alan; they must be really good friends.

Grell must've had the same thoughts, but she had obviously taken them the wrong way. "Nosebleed!" Grell yelled, "I need a bathroom!" She ran like the devil was on her tail, and bee-lined for the nearest restroom. I mentally face palmed while sighing. Then I realized Grell's mistake.

"Wait Grell!" Eric, Alan, Ronnie, and I tried to stop her. Grell had run into the boy's restroom. She came running out just as fast; her long red hair trailing behind her.

"Oh, my, go-" Grell yelled, "I am so sorry!"

"Who do you think she ran into?" Ronnie asked. Grell came running back over. She dove and hid underneath the table. Grell tried to put my legs in between her, and whoever had been in the bathroom.

"Grell!" I jumped and turned around to see Mr. Landers . His purple eyes were afire with anger. That guy needed a major chill-pill, or anger-management counseling. Possibly both, even.

"She didn't mean to go in there," I said, jumping to my friend's defense. Grell slowly crawled out from underneath the table. Holding her head down low in shame. She resembled a dog being scolded. Grell was trying to pull her innocent act, which she was usually quite good at.

"Detention!" He yelled. Grell lost her innocent little girl face and jumped to take out .

"Why you litt-" I covered Grell's mouth and held her back. She tried to bite my hand to make me let go; I winced in pain, but I didn't let go. When Grell got mad, things got ugly. Then she decided to gross me out. She licked my hand and I let go immediately. I reached in my pocket for hand sanitizer with my left hand. I used my right to hold Grell back.

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Ronnie asked. He tried to draw 's attention away from our friend. Luckily enough for Grell, it worked. He turned his full hatred to the rest of the group.

"Detention, for all of you!" Mr. Landers yelled. "This Friday, I expect to see every single one of you brats sitting with you butts planted in the seats in my room! You think this is funny? Well think again! You will pay for this little prank!" He stormed off, out of the cafeteria, still raging. Nearly all of the students eyes trailed him as he exited.

"Sorry guys," Grell apologized once disappeared. "I didn't mean to get you detention."

"It's okay, Grell," Ronnie assured her, "detention makes me feel more like a rebel. Girls always go for the bad boys; you did me a favor!" We all laughed at Ronald. Knowing him, he'd brag about it.

"Yeah," Eric added, "and detention isn't anything new for me." I glanced at Ronnie, we both could tell he wasn't lying.

"I don't mind, Grell," Alan told her softly. Eric led Alan to their next class; while I walked Grell to her locker.

"What about you, William?" Grell asked. "This is your first detention."

"I don't mind," I lied smoothly. Inside though, I was steaming angry. I managed to get through the rest of the day without trouble. Grell gave Ronnie and I a ride home; while she grumbled the whole way. She had kept her anger from showing in school. Grell has a temper that could match any little girl with her own TV show. Honey Boo Boo has nothing on Grell.

"Stupid !" Grell yelled. "It's not like I purposely went in there!" Her anger blinded her; causing her to swerve. Ronnie and I hung on to each other for dear life. We were both sitting in the back; helpless recipients of our friend's anger.

"Calm down, Grell," I tried to sooth, "you need your eyes on the road." She grunted to let me know that she had heard me.

"Grell," Ronnie begged, "please don't kill us!" To help Ronald's point, a speed bump threw us a little to the right. We barely missed the stop sign. If a cop saw Grell, I can be safely assured she would be getting a ticket at the least.

"Sorry guys," Grell said, getting control of the wheel. "Seriously though! Who would want to see him taking a pee?! Old pervert needs to get over himself!" Ronnie and I tried to hide our laugh, and failed. Grell was right. was so in love with himself; he could probably marry himself and never get a divorce. He takes the word narcissist to a whole new level.

"Look on the bright side, at least he didn't give us detention tonight!" Ronnie said. Only Ronald could find a bright side in every situation. The cloud of detention has no silver lining.

"What does it matter?" Grell asked. "It's still detention." Grell was ever the pessimist in this matter.

"Because William's taking you to my party!" Ronald added, happily. The flaming car jolted to a halt; it's equally steaming driver turned around to face me. I gulped in utter, unrequited fear. 'Please don't kill me' I thought fastly.

"You are what?!" She asked flipping her hair out of her face. I winced, working up the courage to speak. Then out of nowhere, my words returned, and flowed out of my mouth.

"Is there a problem with going with me?" I asked. Her green eyes were identical to mine; the only difference right now, was the surprise and slight annoyance that showed in hers.

"You couldn't have asked earlier?!" She half yelled.

"What's wrong with now?" I asked innocently. She sighed, and calmed back down. Grell took slow breaths, in and out, in and out. Not only was it a drama exercise that -Druitt taught her, but a method to help calm herself.

"Nobody asked me to go with them," Grell said, "so I agreed to go with that creep in 11th grade." The 'creep' she was referring to was most likely 's son, Ashton. He was just as 'stuck on himself' as his father.

"I am so sorry!" Ronnie gasped I nodded, 's may be a horrid person, but his son beat him by a mile at mean. I shuddered at the thought of him.

"Do you want me to take care of it, Grell?" I asked her.

"Please!" She yelled. Grell's hands were clasped and she began to thank me.

"Give me your phone," I said to Ronald. He handed me the tiny flip-phone. I searched the contacts until I found the right one. The dial tone was obnoxious and loud. 'You owe me', I mouthed to Grell.

"Hello?" The voice of Ashton asked from the other line.

"This is William, from the senior's class." Ronald facepalmed himself before mouthing to words 'you're too serious' to me.

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm sorry, but Grell feels uncomfortable with...um.." I paused to search for a good lie, "...um...guys younger than her!"

"Uh huh." He didn't believe me. "Why wouldn't she like young guys? Especially when they look like I do?"

"Don't blame it on me," I began, trying not to throw up from his self-centeredness, "when Grell gets sick on you!"

"Gets sick?" He sounded disgusted.

"When she feels uncomfortable, she throws up." Grell dove back and hung up the phone. She threw it back at Ronnie; he reflexively caught it.

"You idiot!" she yelled, "I was letting you take care of it, not spread rumors about me!"

"But," Ronnie pointed out, "it's taken care of." Then he died of laughter. Poor little Ronnie was silenced by Grell's fist. I then joined Ronald in a vigil of silence.

The rest of the ride was silent. No one uttered a peep. Mainly because we feared that Grell would murder us. Trust me, that red-headed dive is capable of a massacre. She dumped Ronald off at his house; then sped off three houses down, to mine.

"I'll meet you at Ronnie's house at 7:00," Grell said. "Don't be late!" She pulled out hastily. Grell was most likely still angry with me.

"I won't be late!" I assured her. I trudged up the steps to my front door, and gratefully ran in. Now all I had to do, was remember the party at Ronnie's house!

"You're finally back!" I turned around to see my mother. I don't think I have the guts to tell her about detention.


	3. Sake of The Game

_Yes, it's me again! iamcalifornia and I give you another chapter! It is also posted on her wattpad._

"You're finally back!" I turned around to see my mother. She practically skipped up to me and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a hug. After seeing her so happy, I didn't think I had the guts to tell her about detention. "So, how was my little Will's first day as a senior?" She cooed. Although my mother was late into her forties, she still acted like one of those super-young moms you only ever see parenting kids on television shows.

I chuckled at her as she let go of the hug. Will was the nickname she had called me by since I was a child, she picked up on it after my dad kept dropping the 'Liam' part of my name. Ever since then I had been Will to the both of them. "It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that great either."

"Just so-so?" She asked, her hands on her hips. I noticed she was wearing her apron, which I presumed that meant I had interrupted her cooking in the kitchen. I knew it was derogatory to say that 'the woman's place is in the kitchen', but with my mother, it was true. She was able to cook gourmet meals so heavenly, they could satisfy the tastes of God himself.

"Just so-so." I agreed. "Mom, I'm going to a party over at Ronnie's tonight, is that alright?"

She chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. "That Knox boy and his parties. I suppose you can, as long as you help clean up the dishes and do any homework you have before hand. Just be back by eleven."

I laughed and started up the stairs. "What kind of teacher assigns homework on the first day?" I called down at her as I reached the peak of the staircase, which led into the second floor of our home.

"Mr. Landers would!" She retorted back up. My mom had in her class when she was in high school, and she had never really liked him or his over-inflated ego either. I heard her laugh a bit more before sighing again. "Dinner's at five thirty, be ready, Will!"

"I will!" I shouted back as I slammed the door to my room. I flopped down on my bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling. I still couldn't believe that Grell had gotten us all into dentention. I knew it wasn't her fault, but I still couldn't help but be angry. This was the first dentention I had ever recieved, it would be an ugly blotch on my permenant record.

After a bit more of wallowing in my own self-pity and raging at my red-haired diva friend, I heard my text tone go off. I pulled out my phone and saw it was from Ronnie. I typed in my passcode and checked the message.

Ronald: I need your opinion and fast man. STB tonight or not?

William: I guess I'm up for it, as long as I don't end up kissing you.

Ronald: You think you're funny, don't you?

William: You know I am, Ronnie.

Ronald: Shut up. And thanks for the input. Remember, at seven. Grell's expecting you.

I clicked the power button and set my phone over on my desk. Spin the Bottle would be interesting tonight. I knew Grell would wanna play, and Ronnie would probably drag Alan into it. I relaxed on my bed for a little while longer, unable to think up anything to do.

After an hour or so and plenty of procrastinating, I heard the front door slam shut, followed by the voice of my father ringing throughout the house. "Will, Marta, I'm home!" He announced loudy.

I clicked my phone and checked the time, 5:23 P.M. it read. I lunged off my bed, I figured it would be best to get downstairs and ready for dinner. I stopped at the foot of the stairs to watch my mom and dad greet each other. Marta, my mom, reached in for a hug. While my dad had his arms wrapped around her, she stood on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. "Hey Jim. How was work today?"

"It was fine," Jim, my dad, sighed. He removed his had and hung it up on the coat rack next to him. "But personally, I'm just glad I'm home now." Before Marta could ask him another question, I came barging down the stairs, interrupting the two's moment. My dad focused his attention on me, almost a smile crawling onto his lips. "And here's none other than Will."

I laughed as he walked over and ruffled my hair. "Hey, dad." I said simply.

My mother retreated to the dining room and back into the kitchen, noticing that we needed some father-son bonding time. "I still can't believe you're a senior. I can still remember the day you went off on your first day of kindergarten..." His voice trailed off.

"Okay, you can stop there," I stated. I wasn't in the mood to go down memory lane at that time.

"I'm just messing with you." He chuckled. "So, did you have a good first day back? Lemme guess, Knox has a party planned tonight."

"How'd you know?" I asked.

"He's Knox, that's what he does."

Marta leaned through the doorway that led to the dining room. She let out a grunt of annoyance, yet her face was still pleasant. "Boys? It's dinner time."

"Right. We'll be right in." Jim said, giving a nod to my mother. "We can talk about your day during dinner, okay?" His words caused a lump to grow in my throat. Talking about my day meant I'd have to do some explaining about detention.

About halfway through the meal, my dad decided it was the best time to inquire about my day. "So, did anything exciting happen today?"

"No," I casually lied, diving back into my helping of asparagus on my plate. There was nothing more that I wanted at that point of time than for him to stop talking.

"Are you sure, Will?" My mom asked, her face concerned. "You aren't looking well."

I couldn't stand it. I knew I would have to tell them sometime, and since they both stood before me there was no reason I couldn't tell them. "I got detention," I said as I shot up from the chair. I stared down at my shoes, I couldn't bring myself to face my dad's glaring eyes or my mom's compassionate ones.

A period of silence passed before my father could recollect himself. "My son, who's never done a thing wrong in his life, got detention," He said ominously. I braced myself for the worst, when my father was upset, it was like he was whole other person, and that person wasn't one you wanted your father to be.

"Now, Jim," My mom soothed. She sprang from her seat to his side, putting her hands on his shoulders as if it would help calm him down. "I'm sure it's nothing to get so upset about," She hinted, "just let the boy explain himself."

He groaned in his seat, shifting uncomfortably. "Fine. What happened, Will?"

I spent the net half hour or so explaining everything. Grell's accidental run-in with Mr. Landers, her trying to attack him, Ronnie's back-sass, and then the final punishment of detention. Both of my parents stared at me with blank expressions, before my mother let out a low sigh. "Oh, honey," She shook her head.

"Well, at least you fessed up." My dad growled. "I should punish you by keeping you from going to Knox's party tonight, but I know how much you were looking forward to that," he sighed, his usual calm self had returned. "You just gotta promise that things like this aren't going to happen again, alright?"

"Alright." I said with a nod. "Thank you for understanding." I relaxed a little, removing some of the tension I had. I had barely made it through that one alive.

About an hour later, I walked down the block to Ronnie's house. Although it was evening, the air was still warm and rather humid. I clicked my phone, it was 6:58 P.M. "Just in time," I said to myself.

When I arrived at Ronnie's house, the party scene was already started. Flashing strobe lights and neon lasers poured out of the windows and opened front door, and the music blaring so loud I could feel the bass in my feet. I saw Ronnie leaning next to his doorway with a red solo cup in hand, greeting his guests as they entered the rave scene. I jogged up the steps and Ronnie perked up. "William, you made it!"

"Of course I did," I said as he wrapped an arm around me, leading me inside. "Our red-haired diva is expecting me to come to her rescue and protect her from that creep Ashton," I sheilded my eyes, all the flickering lights made it difficult to see.

Noticing my discomfort, Ronnie led me into the kitchen, where there thankfully were no party lights. The island counter in the room was full of stacks of plastic cups, two-liter bottles of any soda brand there was, numerous bags of chips and too many deserts to count. "Speaking of," He started with a disgusted look on his face "Sleazeball Landers decided to show up a couple minutes ago. Dude, I thought for sure he would've backed down after what we told him on the phone!"

I shook my head, pouring myself a serving of Doctor Pepper. "He's Ashton, 's son. Knowing him and his ego, he wouldn't pass up any big party," I explained as I chugged down some of the beverage.

Ronnie chuckled and patted me on the back. "Well, anyway, you might wanna wait by the main door for our red-head princess so Landers doesn't sweep her away. I could tell by the look on her face earlier there was no way she'd wanna be seen with a dirtbag like him."

I proceeded through the hall and back to the front door. I nodded at other students from school as they entered the house, a solemn and quiet greeting. Not long after, I saw the familiar red convertible pull into the driveway, with none other than Grell at the wheel. I noticed that she had changed into a loose white blouse and red skinny jeans. She always incorporated red into her outfits, and somehow found loopholes in the school rules to modify her uniform to add her personal touch of crimson.

"Hey, there you are." Grell greeted as she skipped up the steps, her white heels clunking against the wooden boards. She forcibly took my free hand and pulled me inside after her, all the way into the living room. Somehow, Ronnie had managed to set up a dance floor and hire a DJ to play tonight's setlist. I noticed Alan situated on the wall, hopelessly watching as all the other party attendees danced to the techno track. His eyes met with mine, and he gave a shy wave. Grell let out a chuckle from next to me. "He's such a wallflower. I'm gonna go see if he wants to dance, I wanna make sure he has fun tonight."

Although I was supposedly Grell's escort, I was glad she was asking Alan to dance. I had never been good at dancing, whether it was formal or fun. Smiling as I saw her dragging the reluctant Alan into the crowd to dance, I retreated back to the kitchen. As I began to refill my cup with soda, I heard rattling at the window. Freezing in my spot, I watched as the intruder unlocked the window and pulled himself inside. He jumped up from the floor, his eyes catching mine. "Where's Alan?"

"Eric?!" I shouted as I recognized the brute blond. His sudden arrival surprised me, I backed into the counter and spilled my drink. I sighed and recollected myself. "What're you doing here? I thought you had detention tonight."

He gave a shrug, avoiding my gaze. "I had Tanaka, the Algebra teacher, for detention. Guy's so old I thought it'd take him years to even notice I was gone, let alone do anything about it." He dipped his hand into a bowl of Doritos and chomped down on them. "Anyway, do you know where Alan is?"

"Uh, yeah. Grell dragged him out on the dance floor a couple minutes ago."

He nodded, his blond hair slightly bouncing. "Okay, thanks." He gave me a high-five as he passed by me and into the room. Not but a minute later, Grell ran into the kitchen, squealing her fangirling head off.

"Oh my God, William! They are just too cute! I need to set them up!" She exclaimed, her hands exploding in dramatic bursts.

"Grell," I laughed, "What if they don't think of each other like that, what if they're only friends?"

She shook her head and dove into one of the slices of cherry cheescake on the counter. "Whatever. I still think they're cute together."

Before I could even respond to Grell's hopeless 'I'm-going-to-set-them-up-someday' antics, Ronnie popped his head into the room. He held an empty bottle of Coke in his hands, shaking it around with a crafty smile on his face. "Guys, Spin the Bottle. Upstairs, right now."

Grell let out a squeal, her eyes gleaming with joy. We followed Ronnie upstairs to an excluded room, where the group participating in the event was already seated in a circle, with both Alan and Eric amongst them. I sat next to Eric, and Grell on the opposite side of me. Ronnie stood in the middle of the circle, his face still bearing his cunning smirk, sitting the plastic Coke bottle down in front of him. "Alright, who wants to give her a go?" he asked.

With his cheeks flushing pink, Alan reached into the center of the crowded group and gave the bottle a whirl. Every pair of eyes in the room followed it as it spun around mesmerizingly. Its pace began to slow down, and once it did, everybody's attention turned to who it had landed on. Eric looked down at the bottle pointing towards him, swallowing a gulp as Alan's hand flew to his face to cover his ruby-red cheeks. After releasing a reluctant sigh, Alan made his way over to Eric and slowly kissed his cheek. I couldn't blame him for not wanting to kiss his best friend, locking lips with Ronnie wasn't my favorite idea either.

As Alan returned to his rightful spot, my eyes darted over to Grell, who looked like she was on the brink of swooning. Before she began going through another one of her infamous fangirl spasms, I grabbed the bottle and spun it. Like before, everyone watched it as it rotated around and around before it chose it's next victim. I sat on edge as it slowed down, and my eyes shot up to who I had spun to.

Grell.

Her breath took a sharp intake and her green eyes widened. I bit my lip and looked away as she blushed. Hesitantly, we both met in the middle. She leaned her forhead into mine, a short little way of preparation before we kissed. "No matter what happens, we're just friends, right? This isn't going to affect anything between us."

I nodded, pushing aside my nerves. "Right. This is just for the sake of the ga-"

Before I could even think about finishing my response, Grell grabbed my hands and pulled my even closer, her lips clashing against mine. I was taken aback by her sudden action, with our previous conversation I was convinced she was dreading it. Our bodies were so close I could almost feel her heart beating rapidly. She pulled back abruptly, her lips causing a smack. She looked away from me, her entire face swelling with pink.

I couldn't resist the urge any longer. I wanted to remove her shame, but not as much as I wished for her lips against mine. I pulled Grell in for another round, wrapping my hands around her waist to bring her closer. Her lips were warm, with a lingering flavor of cherry lipgloss. She deepened the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck, bringing herself closer to me. Before we could get any more involved, someone executed a low whistle and clapped their hands together, followed by the murmurs of other students. Grell broke the kiss, laughing nervously as she observed the crowd before turning back to me. "This... This means nothing between us, right?" she asked, her shaking voice a whisper.

"Just heat of the moment," I lied, "It's nothing."


	4. Detention

_**Here we are with the fourth chapter! I adore iamcalifornia for putting up with my wacky ideas and for reminding me to edit and write! This story is also on her wattpad. (Well she did co-write it...lol)**_

Tick... 3:30

Tick... 3:31

Tick... 3:32

Tick...tick...tick...tick... 3:36

"Someone shut that clock up!" I looked up to see Ronnie twitching his eye. "That thing is so absolutely annoying! It's the only noise in this stinking room!" Ronnie had been sitting in front of me; however, now he was standing and positing his fist at the clock on the wall.

" Mr. Knox," Mr. Landers chided, "the whole point of detention is to make disobedient students like you learn their place." Ronnie rolled his eyes; making M. Landers fume. "Now instead of thirty minutes, you have forty!"

I groaned. It was bad enough spending half-an-hour with . I stared around the drab room. The walls were puke-green, and resembled a dog's lunch, after it had come back up. The desks, covered in graffiti, appeared dumpy. Someone had written 'Fear the sexy-beast!", on my desk. I glanced over at Grell. She had pulled her long, red hair into a ponytail and tied a red ribbon around her neck.

Tick...3:40

Behind Grell, Eric was sitting. He was attempting to rig up a spit-wad shooter. Alan was sitting behind me, and next to Eric. Poor guy, Alan was a nice person and shouldn't be here with the trouble makers.

"I have to use the restroom, and if I hear a peep coming from this room I will add another ten minutes to your time," said Mr. Landers before exiting the room. Eric and I let out the breath that we had been holding. No one, though, had the guts to talk.

"Look on the bright side guys!" Ronald said, breaking the silence. "We only have thirty more minutes!" The rest of us nodded in agreement. Ronnie went to talk again, but I shushed him by pantomiming zipping my lips. He twisted so he could look out the door's window without leaving his seat. Mr. Landers was attempting to duck below the window and spy on us. I pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil.

'Why do you think Landers is spying on us?'

I passed the paper to Ronnie. He bent over the paper and wrote as fast as he could. Then Ronald casually handed it back to me.

'He's probably trying to get us in trouble. Landers only wants an excuse to give us more detention.'

I nodded before writing again.

'It's so obvious he's there.'

Leaning down to 'tie my shoe', I slipped Ronnie the note. He smirked when he read it. Then he wrote something and handed the paper back to me.

'You can see his white hair sticking strait up! He needs a haircut in the worst kind of way!'

I agreed with Ronnie, Mr. Landers needed a haircut. I was going to write back, but I had heard the door open. Slipping the note into my pocket, I shoved my pencil off of my desk.

Tick... 3:50

"Sorry Mr. Landers," I said as I picked it up. He ignored me and sat in his chair. Landers picked up a book that had been laying on the desk. I could barely make out the cover, but it looked like a Harlequin. I kicked Grell's foot to get her attention. When she looked at me, I pointed to Lander's book. She stifled a giggle by holding her delicate hand over her mouth.

The cover of book had two people on it. The first was a pasty pale woman in a pristine white dress. Large dove wings stuck awkwardly out of her shoulders. She was wrapped in a man's arms. The man was your typical, 'tall, dark, and handsome' guy. He had black shoulder length hair. A devil's tail and horns adorned him. The title of the little romance novel was 'My Angel'. Slightly cliché, if you ask me.

Tick... 3:55

Everything was going smoothly, until something hit Mr. Landers. He jerked up from his romance novel and growled. Landers wiped something off of his face and snarled. He'd been hit with a spit-wad. I glanced back to Eric, who sported a self-satisfied smirk. I heard a snicker and turned around to see Ronnie, who was trying not to flat out die of laughter.

"Eric!" Mr. Landers yelled, "you have detention again Monday!" We all winced. I glanced at the clock; hoping and praying that I didn't have much more time in here. It was 4:00, I only had to suffer another ten minutes. If I can help it, I will never get detention again.

I felt someone poke my arm. It was Grell. She pointed to the seat behind me, with a worried look. Turning around, I saw Alan clutching his chest in pain. Eric was trying to comfort him by patting his back. Alan, however, still had his face scrunched up in pain. I shared a worried glance with Grell, before raising my hand. ignored me.

Tick... 4:03

"Um," I began, " Mr. Landers." I did a little wave when the teacher in question looked up. He glared mercilessly at me.

"What do you want, William?" He asked, annoyed that I had interrupted him.

"I don't think that Alan's doing well," I said, with a gesture towards the male sitting behind me. "He's in pain, a lot of pain." Mr. Landers stood up and walked over to Alan. He loomed over Alan and pushed his white hair out of his eyes with a huff of disdain.

"What's wrong, Alan?" Landers sneered, "Detention getting to you? Or is it something else? Maybe your bad actions are back firing, huh? Maybe all the evil that you do has finally begun to take root and kill you?" Mr. Lander's eyes were beginning to appear wild and almost cave-man like. He grabbed Alan's shoulders and whipped him back and forth.

"Stop you moron!" Eric yelled. We both had jumped off to pull Landers off of Alan, however, Eric had gotten to the teacher first. He jerked back and threw a him on the floor. "Alan! Are you ok?"

Alan nodded and held back tears.

Tick... 4:07

Mr. Landers picked himself off of the floor and grunted. "You'll pay for that, Eric." He didn't back up his words with much force. Landers was most likely either scared of Eric, or he had realized how outnumbered he was.

Either way, it wasn't like we cared. Ronnie, Grell, Eric, and I were to busy making sure that Alan was alright. He was now clawing his chest, like he wanted to rip something out of himself. Then suddenly he stopped, color returned to his skin, and he sighed in relief.

Tick...4:10

Landers glanced at the clock and turned back to us. "Looks like our time is up. I know how much you guys would love to stay and look at my handsome face, but alas, I must leave." Grell grunted a laugh before grabbing my arm and dragging me out the door. Eric insisted that Alan was too weak to walk by himself, so he carried his friend. Poor Ronnie awkwardly followed us out.

"Guys," I looked at Ronnie, "I want a girlfriend." The rest of us laughed at him.

"That was random," Grell said. Ronnie blushed apple-red, and scratched the back of his head.

"You all are dating," he argued, "I have no one!"

"We aren't dating!" We all yelled in unison. Alan and Grell were blushing, Eric looked ticked. I'm pretty sure that I wanted to kill my best friend.

Ronnie just laughed at us and walked on to his locker. Grell turned the same shade of red as she awkwardly let go off my hand. I wasn't sure how to keep her from getting even more embarrassed. The route I chose probably wasn't the smartest.

"It's ok," I told Grell. "If I had to date anyone, you'd probably be my first choice." She blushed even brighter red and I tried to cover up my idiotic statement. "N-Not that I'd actually date anyone!"

"Moron!" Grell said walking off. I sighed, I didn't want her to think that I had a romantic interest in her. The problem was that I was begging to like her. Sighing, I turned to Alan and Eric. They were having an awkward talk too.

"I like you, Alan," Eric said, "your my best friend and I would do anything for you!" Eric had bent down to look into the shorter male's eyes. I could see why people thought they were a couple. Eric was so protective of Alan that he looked like an obsessive boyfriend.

With thoughts like that, I must be turning into a Grell clone.

"But you just said you didn't like me!" Alan protested. He was almost crying.

"I meant 'like' as in 'date like'," Eric said sighing.

"Oh," Alan realized, "so we're still best friends?!" He was smiling widely up at his friend. I sighed, if only it were that easy to talk to Grell.

"Bye guys," I said, walking to the door, "have a nice day!"

"You too!" They yelled back together. I simply waved my right hand in the air.

I opened the large glass door and walked outside. The sun was beginning to fall to the west, but the day was still beautiful. It was the perfect day for walking home. I walked past old oak trees that stood tall in the school's front yard. Their leaves were already turning color and beginning to fall.

A breeze picked up and dirt was flying in my eyes. I winced and shielded my face from the barrage. Picking up my pace, I speed-walked out of the school's campus. I passed the church that was next to the school when a car horn blasted. I looked up to see Grell's red convertible.

"Need a lift?" she asked me impatiently. She was tapping her fingers on the steering wheel in an unsightly manner. Grell shook red hair out of her face and huffed loudly. "Well? You riding or not?"

Smiling I got in the passenger seat. "I get shotgun!" She rolled her eyes and hit the gas. We speed down the street much faster than I could have run. The wind snapped Grell's hair into my face. At first it stung, but then I got used to the feeling. I rarely sat next to Grell, but Ronnie wasn't riding, so sitting in the back would be pointless.

Suddenly, Grell jammed on the brakes. I went flying forward, but was saved by my seatbelt.

"What the heck?!" I yelled, "are you trying to kill us?!" Grell shakily got out of the car and walked in front of it. I jumped out and joined her. Laying in the middle of the road was a black kitten. It was mewling loudly.

"Oh my gosh!" Grell yelped, "I think the poor little guy's leg is broken! Will, check the kitten's leg!" I grudgingly picked up the cat. It hissed and clawed at my hand. I flinched in pain but didn't make a noise. Poking it's limp front right leg, I murmured to myself.

"Yep, it's broke alright," I announced. The cat appeared to be giving me the, 'no crap' look. Grell jerked the cat out of my hands and pet it's head lovingly.

"It's okay, precious!" she cooed. The cat purred and arched into her hand. I sighed, any minute now she would announce that she was keeping it. "I'm gonna take you home with me!" She piled back into the car, and I had no choice other than follow her. Grell pushed the creature into my arms before starting down the road.

"I hate to kill your mojo," I said bluntly, "but your mom's allergic." Grell's face was shocked, she had just remembered. She put on her pleading face and she stopped the car again. Grell turned to me.

"William," she asked, quivering her bottom lip, "would you take care of Lucifer for me?"

"You already named it?" I jumped as 'Lucifer' bit me. I growled at the cat.

"Why? Don't you like Lucifer?!"

"It sounds evil!" I protested. She whimpered and looked at 'Lucifer'.

"Fine then, how 'bout Artemis?"

"That's better," I said, "and no."

"Why not?" she pleaded. Grell began to cry softly and I sighed. I was a total sucker for tears. Crying was something I couldn't handle.

"Fine," I agreed, "just please quit crying!" Grell stopped the waterworks and drove forward. Artemis looked up at me and it looked like it was smirking at me. I shuddered, how was I supposed to tell mom that I had a cat.


	5. Election War

_Unfortunately I fell asleep before I could update this, so I'm a little behind iamcalifornia. Once again, this is a collaboration with iamcalifornia and is posted also on her wattpad. _

Days and weeks had flown by, and now it was mid-Septemeber. Eric had got more detentions and Alan's weird chest pains had gotten worse. Grell got sassier, Ronnie kept complaining about not being able to find a steady girlfriend, and I had to pay six hundred dollars to help heal a cat I didn't want in the first place.

I tromped down the stairs and swung open the back door, my bag slung over my shoulder. "I'm heading to school, I'll see you when I'm home mom!" I shouted. I heard her respond from the living room, but her voice was so far away and muffled I couldn't make out anything she said.

Just as I was going to step out the door, Artemis laced around my feet, nudging her silky black head into my leg. She gave off a slight purr, showing her content. Sighing, I bent down and pet her. She arched into the stroke, just as she had the day Grell had found her in the street. After a few weeks and lots of TLC, the little black cat warmed up to me. "And I'll see you when I get home too, Artemis."

She mewed in response, before racing into the living room as a gust of cold autumn wind blew in from the open door. I took that as my cue to leave. Closing the door and locking it with my spare key, I hustled down the front steps of my house and onto the sidewalk I took for school.

It had become routine for Grell to come pick me and Ronnie up for school, I had become accustomed to hearing the loud car horn blare from behind me on my way to school. But today, her red corvette was adorned with both blue and white, in addition to its normal color. As the car slowed to a stop in fron of me, I read the banner she attached to the side: 'William for President'.

"You guys!" I laughed, hopping into the back seat with Ronnie, trying my best not to mess up the banner. "You didn't have to do this."

"Of course we did! It's the day of elections, Will!" Ronnie exclaimed. It wasn't until I got a good look at him that I noticed he was wearing one of the corny campaign buttons with the same slogan across it, 'Vote William'. I looked down to what he held in his hands, a box filled with the same buttons and matching posters, which I presumed they would hang up in the hallways today.

"I'm sure you don't even need these, though." Grell added, turning around to smile at me. "I think that after the amazing speech you gave to the student body yesterday, you've got Class Pres. in the bag!"

I grinned as Ronnie patted me on the back, congratulating me. Grell and Ronnie spent the rest of the ride praising me, practically worshipping me on how great of a Class President I was going to be.

"Guys," I stated, getting annoyed by their nonstop chatter about how great I was, "We won't even know the results until eighth period."

"I know, but I can just sense it that you'll win!" Grell squealed as she parked the car in an open lot at the school. Ronnie and I obediently followed her inside, and none of us were prepared for what we saw next.

It was like a battlefield. Well, a battlefield of cheesy and cliche campaign signs, that is. Every which way you looked, you'd see a number of signs, some for me, and some for my rivaling nominee. Alan bounded up to me, several flyers falling out of the pile he held in his arms. "Thank god, reinforcements are here! Ronnie and Grell, start hanging up posters and I'll start handing out these buttons! William, you just stay back and look confident!" He barked out orders, taking the buttons from Ronnie and rushing to hand them out.

I was wrong. It was exactly like a battlefield. A full blown war zone, like the ones in Call of Duty games.

Grell and Ronnie headed in opposite directions, attaching the posters to any open space on the wall that they could. Alan positioned himself by the main door, handing out the buttons to students as they passed by him. As I swam through the crowd of students, I caught Eric out of the corner of my eye. He sat at a booth with a fellow junior, handing out ballots to be filled out. He flashed me a smile and and thumbs-up, and I copied the action back to him.

Somehow, I managed to find my way out of the crowd and into the deserted hallways. Students were either out in the commons room battling out who would win the Student Council Elections, or taking refuge in their classrooms, which was what I was planning to do. I listened to my shoes click against the silence as I headed toward my locker to grab my books I'd need for the morning part of the day.

Mr. Landers shot me a menacing glare over his romance novel as I entered the biology classroom. "William," He addressed, his tone dripping with venomous hatred.

"Mr. Landers," I replied as I slumped down in my assigned chair. I dug through my bag, trying to find my note from yesterday's class, but mostly trying to avoid eye contact or conversation with . I pulled out my notebook and began doodling a little cartoon Ronnie holding up a 'Spears for President' campaign sign as I daydreamed about the results.

At lunch, it was only Eric and I at our regular table. Alan and Grell had taken over at the voting booth, while Ronnie ran around trying to persuade people into voting for me. I focused on the voting table, Grell greeted everyone and hand out ballots with a smile. Alan tried to mimic her actions, but he wasn't quite as successful, due to his shyness. "You'll never guess what I did yesterday."

Eric's statement caught my attention, I quickly swiveled around in my seat to face him. "What, did you get another detention?" I asked sarcastically as I bit into my apple.

"Well, besides that," Eric chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "But I nominated Alan for our Junior Class Secretary."

My eyes bugged out of my head and my jaw dropped, along with the hunk of apple in my mouth. "Are you crazy?! He hates attention like that, he'll be too overwhelmed!" I exclaimed. Eric's hands flew to my mouth to shut me up. I hadn't realized that I raised my voice so loud. Grell and Alan looked over to us, along with a few other pairs of lingering eyes.

Eric removed his hands from my mouth, sighing. "I know, I know. But he always talked about being secretary at our old school, and I always believed he would do well with it. From what I've seen of the ballots I've snuck looks at, people actually are voting for him. I didn't think he'd have a very big chance of winning, since it's his first year and all, but people seem pretty apt about voting for him."

When he mentioned sneaking a look at the ballots, my mind began to wander and my curiosity got the best of me. "Did you happen to see how I'm doing so far?" I asked. I dropped my voice to a whisper and leaned over the table to him, hoping no passerby would overhear our conversation.

"Well," Eric started, also lowering his voice. "From what little I saw, the competition is pretty tight, but earlier this morning you were ahead. But, that was this morning, and voting goes until next hour, so I wouldn't be surprised if anybody's surpassed you." He explained.

I nodded my head, sitting back down into my spot as Grell, Ronnie, and Alan returned to our table, the three of them carrying their lunch trays. Grell and Ronnie sat on either side of me, while Alan next to Eric.

Grell elbowed me in the ribs lightly, grabbing my attention. "Quite a few more people voted for you, Will." she quipped before diving into her lunch.

"Speaking of voting," Alan piped up, "How on earth did my name get on the ballots?!" His eyebrows bent upwards, his eyes swimming with confusion and concern. Eric shot me a look that clearly read 'don't-you-dare-tell-him'.

Ronnie shrugged. "I don't know, but I think that's kinda cool."

"Cool?!" Alan exclaimed, "I'm freaking out! I don't think I'm ready for that kind of attention, or responsibility."

Grell gave a wave of her hand, attempting to brush Alan's worries away. "You have nothing to worry about when it comes to the responsibility, you're totally prepared for that. We'll help with the attention along the way."

"Yeah, and secretary can't have too much attention. Either way, we'll be here to support you." Ronnie added with a grin.

Eric wrapped a protective arm around Alan, bringing him in close. "It's okay. We'll find out the results this afternoon and then we'll figure it all out from there."

Alan gave a sad smile, his green eyes glistening as he looked up to Eric. "Thanks you guys, for everything. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends, you're all so great." He let a more natural, less forced smile onto his face as he leaned into Eric's one-armed embrace. Then, disrupting his peace, his face sudden wrenched into an expression that was painful just to look at and he began clawing at his chest. He leaned onto the table for support as his breathing became heavier. Just like the time in detention, another unsuspected attack.

"Alan?!" Grell gasped. She shot up from her spot and rushed over to Alan, running a comforting hand up and down his back. "Alan, are you okay?"

Alan leaned up from the table, cringing from the movement. "Yeah, I'm fine, " He shakily stood up, he looked like his knees would give out any second. "I'll be okay."

Eric stood up after Alan, looping an arm through Alan's and pulling the brunette close to help him keep his balance. "I'm gonna take Alan to the nurse's office." He announced. "We'll see you guys later." With that, Eric led Alan out of the cafeteria and toward the nurse's office.

With a pout, Grell sat back down in her seat, leaning against me slightly. "I hope those attacks all stop soon."

Ronnie nodded in agreement, "I do too. Wonder if he'll ever tell us what they're about, hopefully it's only temporary."

"Attention, all students, attention please," A voice blared from the loudspeaker. I instantly recognized it as Miss Angela Blanc's, the school nurse and receptionist. "Would all students please report to the auditorium for the Student Council Election results, auditorium for Student Council results. Thank you."

A cackle laughed from the front of the room. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, off to the auditorium. Please try to stay orderly and well behaved while you're there." The Geography teacher, Mr. Adrian Crevan instructed. Mr. Crevan was an odd man, he had everyone call him by Undertaker. Nobody ever understood why or inquired about it, we all just did.

Grell shot up from her chair next to me, bounding up to my side. She accompanied me to the auditorium, clinging to my arm and giggling. "I can't wait!" she squealed as we passed through the door. "You're gonna be so great! Do you have an acceptance speech prepared yet?"

I shook my head, "Grell, don't put all your eggs in one basket." I noticed Ronnie beckoning us over from the other side of the auditorium. I dragged Grell over there, joining Ronnie, Eric, and Alan. We sat down in our seats just as Miss Blanc began reading off the results. Why the school had chosen her, I had no idea.

I paid no mind to the Freshman and Sophmore student council, but right when Miss Blanc began announcing Juniors, I tuned right in. "First up, our Junior Class Secretary is..." she paused, for dramatic effect, "Mister Alan Humphries!"

The crowd erupted in applause. I leaned over to look at Alan, he turned to each of us, gaping at us. Eric stood up and pulled the small brunette into a hug, lifting him off his feet. After his blond best friend released him, Alan walked down the aisle and up the steps to the stage, along with the other members of student council.

Soon after, I began disinterested after finding out that Ashton Landers had been voted Junior Class President. With nothing better to do, I focused on Grell, who stared intently up at the stage. I studied all of her features, her red hair that framed her face, her glittering green eyes, her porcelain skin. She would be, what I considered, the perfect girl. That is, if she hadn't made it clear that all she wanted was to be friends.

"And our Senior Class President is... Elliot Graph!" Miss Blanc exclaimed, her loud voice pulling me out of my trance.

Ronnie leaned over, his facial expression totally confused. 'Elliot Graph?' he mouthed to me. I shrugged in response. Apparently neither of us knew who he was.

"No!" Grell shouted, shooting up from her chair and pointing an accusing finger up at the stage. "That's gotta be wrong, it had to be-"

"Miss Sutcliff, please, return to your seat and calm down." Miss Blanc soothed.

"Yeah, Sutcliff! Calm your ti-," Ashton started, but soon realized he was up in front of his peers. Insulting a Senior wouldn't do him well as class president, so he shut himself up.

Grell took his partial insult up as a challenge. "No, Landers, I will not calm myself, and you can go-" her fiery retort was interrupted by Eric slinging her up over his shoulder, carrying her out of the auditorium. "Hey, Eric! Put me down, that Landers boy needs to be taught a lesson!"

Eric practically threw her off his shoulder and into the hallway, slamming the door to shut her out. He sighed, leaning up against the door. "Sorry about that, sorry about her. Please, continued." he apologized, returning to his seat next to Ronnie.

Miss Blanc shook her head, trying to erase the odd scene she had just witnessed. "Congratulations to this year's Student Council, and congratulations to all our nominees!" as if on cue, the final bell of the day rang after her last word. Students began standing up and exiting the auditorium, everyone rushed to leave and get home.

Ronnie stood up and stretched his arms over his head looking down at me. "Well, so much for president," He chuckled.

"Yeah," I scoffed. "But hey, it was fun while it lasted."

"I can't believe I was so cocky about you winning, it was almost ridiculous."

"Ronnie, it was ridiculous." I laughed as I exited the gym with him. "Let's find Grell, hopefully she's calm enough to get us home."


	6. Fall Break

_Hello! Here is yet another chapter! I'd like to thank iamcalifornia for co-editing, and co-writing. This story is also on her wattpad._

Alan gasped as his head was dunked under the water. Where was Eric at a time like this? Water met his head and he choked; gagging Alan tried to fight the strong arms that held him under. Alan's lungs were about to burst when he was finally pulled back for air.

"Help!" Alan yelled. He heard a snicker before he was plunged, face first, back into the toilet bowl. Alan's head was flung out of the toilet bowl and he laid sprawled across the bathroom floor. Tears streamed down the young man's face as he gasped for precious air. Someone had come to Alan's rescue.

"What the he-" The first of Alan's three tormentors, Ashton, was silenced. The victim of the bullies looked up to see the face of his savior.

"Eric," Alan croaked out, "you came!" The blonde smiled wickedly before kicking the second of the older boys in the gut.

"Of course I came!" Eric told his doppelgänger. He turned to the last of the trio and glared menacingly.

"Please don't hurt me!" the kid pleaded. "We were only just messing with him!" The boy scrambled back and ran into someone's legs. Eric and Alan looked up to see the one and only Mr. Landers.

I groaned in pain. It was at least five int he afternoon, and I was so not in a good mood.

I had attempted to give that little she-devil, Artemis, a bath. That cat may like me, but she hates water. When I had picked her up at first she began to purr, assuming that I meant to pet her. Artemis was all hunky-dory until she saw the bath. She hissed and clawed at me, trying to escape. The cat succeeded, now if she wants to be clean; either Grell washes her, or Artemis is stuck with a tongue bath.

I flopped onto my bed and put my pillow over my head. I wanted to block the whole world out. Earlier today, Ashton had given Alan a swirly. Eric had been given in-school suspension for kicking that punk's face. Mr. Landers had given me an 'F' on my report, "The Biology of Air-Borne Viruses". Apparently my topic had been much too broad for a detailed report. Too broad my butt! He was just mad that my friend had kicked his son's butt.

Resting my chin in my hand, I pushed up my glasses. Artemis jumped up in my lap and purred, licking my hand. She was probably apologizing for biting me earlier. I sighed and petted my suck-up of a cat.

I jumped when my cellphone went off. My new ringtone was set to My Chemical Romance's 'Thanks For The Venom'.

So give me all your poison

And give me all your pills!

Give me all your hopele-

Grell had changed my ringtone without my permission a while back. I used to have it set at a much more sophisticated tone, Mozart's "Alla Turca". Now my ringtone sounded much more punk rock. To be honest though, I kind of liked the change.

I flipped the phone open to see the little letter prompt. Ronnie's number was adjacent to the little envelope. I opened the text message.

-Ronnie: You free this Friday?-

Sighing, I pushed Artemis off of my lap to reply to Ronnie.

-William: Yes. What is it now?-

-Ronnie: For fall break, my sister is coming home from college. I wanted to hold a bonfire at the beach. Ya know, for her and us!-

-William: Remi's coming over?- Remi Knox, or Remington, is Ronnie's sister. She's only about two years older than Grell and I. She attends college on the east coast.

-Ronnie: Yes. She wanted to see you guys and hang out with me.-

-William: I'll be there.-

-Ronnie: Thanks man! Remi'll be happy to hear that!-

I plugged my phone in the charger so it could get some kind of life. I picked Artemis back up and petted her.

"So what do you think?" I asked my kitty. "Do you want to meet Remi?" Artemis purred contentedly before promptly falling asleep. I laid her on my pillow and smiled. She looked to at peace with the world.

I couldn't wait until Friday. The week had passed by fast and sure enough, Friday finally came. I rushed home from school as fast as I could. Ronnie had planned for the bonfire to start at 5:00, so I didn't have much time.

Artemis meowed to try and get my attention. I ignored her pestering and tossed that offending cat into my knapsack. She hissed in protest as I hastily packed soda cans and a bag of chips into the pocket adjacent to the one in which she was cowering.

"Come on, Artemis!" I said happily, "you're going to meet Remi today!" A horn blasted from outside and I ran out the front door. Grell had arrived to pick me up. "Goodbye, Mom! Tell Dad I won't make it to supper!" I skidded to a halt in front of the fire red convertible and hopped in next to Grell.

"Goodbye honey!" Mom replied. "Try not to lose your cat!" She teased. She was waving from the front door. Mom was dressed formally. When she had heard that I was going to Ronnie's bonfire, mom had made reservations for her and father at one of the fancy restaurants in town.

Grell and I returned the wave as we sped off. I placed my raggedy old knapsack on my lap and coaxed my scared little kitty out of the front pocket. Artemis cautiously crawled out and hissed and me. I mocked hurt and she apologized with a quick head-rub. My cat couldn't stay mad at me for long.

"I knew you'd love that cat once you got used to it!" Grell yelped over the wind. I sighed and realized my counterpart had been right about that. Artemis was more like a family member, or even another limb to me than a cat. She was my precious little baby, and I would make sure that no one would even come close to harming her. Artemis sensed she was the topic of conversation and meowed self centeredly.

"She's most likely the most ego centric kitty I've ever owned," I said nodding. I petted my little superstar underneath her chin.

"Artemis is the only cat you've ever owned," Grell announced bluntly. I grinned and continued to pamper my jet-black feline. I flipped Artemis onto her back and tickled her cotton soft tummy.

Grell and I rode the rest of the trip in silence. Trees whizzed past and gave way to a lake. It was a man-made reservoir, but we all called it a lake. The sand wasn't exactly bleached white, but more of a beige color. The sun was slowly falling to the west, but still shone off of the mirror like lake. The only thing that marred the scene was a bonfire being lit on the beach.

"Here we are!" Grell yipped excitedly. She parked the car expertly next to two other's and hopped out. I slipped Artemis into my knapsack and unbuckled my seatbelt. Getting out of the car, I followed the line of smoke and sashayed to the fire. Ronnie greeted me with a 'manly' high-five.

"You and Grell were, like, the last ones to arrive!" Ronnie said. "We thought you bailed!" I glanced to see Remi sitting next to Grell and Eric. Alan sat on the other side of Eric and they all were casually making conversation. They were situated on a blanket that was in between the lake and the bonfire.

"Isn't this tame for one of your parties?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. Ronnie ran his hands through golden locks and attempted one of the worst seductive posses ever. He placed a hand on his hip as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"I thought you would enjoy it more if we were more," he flipped his hair for effect, "secluded." I busted out laughing. "So what'd ya think? Will it work on girls?"

"I'm not really a ladies' man Ronnie," I said bluntly. We walked and sat down on the nearest empty spot.

"Yes you are!" He insisted. "Grell is always staring at you!" He tried to sound subtle so that the group chatting away wouldn't hear us. I glanced at the girl in question. She had worn a pair of red skinny jeans, a black, baggy sweater, and tall black riding boots. "Let's admit it, you two would be great as a couple!"

I shifted in my seat awkwardly. "I don't know," I said unsure.

"Ask her to the Homecoming Dance," Ronnie suggested in a hiss. I thought as I pulled Artemis out of my knapsack. I scratched her head softly as I pondered.

"I'll think about it," I warned, "but I won't make any promises!" I set the soda up at the edge of the frayed blanket and unceremoniously tossed the bags of chips down too. Hopefully everyone liked Doritos and Barbecue.

"Hey boys!" Remi greeted. "You guys think you're up for a game of truth or dare?" Everyone groaned. They were all most likely remembering our game of spin the bottle. "William," Remi asked, "truth or dare?"

I groaned, why did I have to be first? I sighed, "Dare." Ronnie snickered and everyone else smirked. I let out a small whimper of fear. What would they have me do?

"I dare you to," Remi paused, "do the chicken dance and sing along!" I stood up and handed Artemis to Grell.

"Hold my cat," I ordered. I cleared my throat and squatted down and put my hands on my hips to resemble wings. "I don't want to be a chicken," I flapped my elbows out. "I don't want to be a duck," putting my hand up to form a duck's beak, "so I shake my butt. Quack, quack, quack, quack." I shook my butt and everyone else rolled over onto the blanket while laughing until they coughed. "Very funny, Remi," I said, sarcastically.

"Your turn, Eric!" Remi said just as cheerfully. "Truth, or dare?"

"Truth," Eric replied smirking. He wasn't dumb enough to say dare. Remi could come up with some embarrassing dares.

"Who do you have a crush on?" Remi asked, sitting on edge. "There has to be some girl!" I winced, maybe she didn't know.

"That person is here," he admitted. Alan sat up a little, his attention spiked. "Would you, Remi," Alan's eyes watered as Eric said 'Remi', "date me?"

Remi looked shocked. She was totally speechless. Grell and I shared identical looks. Poor Alan. "Sure," Remi agreed, still in shock. Alan looked about ready to cry. I wanted to cry with him, instead I pulled his attention away from Eric and Remi.

"Truth or dare, Ronnie?" I asked happily. Ronnie leaned back and smiled.

"I'm not much for words," Ronnie began.

"We wanted an answer, not a speech," Grell said bluntly. We all laughed at her little joke.

"Dare," Ronnie said. I stopped to think for a minute. I knew Ronnie was still single.

"I dare you to call the first girl in your contacts and try to get her to date you over the phone," I was smirking. Knowing Ronnie, he'd do it, too.

Ronnie pulled out his cell phone and went to his contacts. "It's Amy Anderson," he said, cringing while dialing. I mouthed to him that he should put it on speaker. Ronnie obeyed and Amy picked up after the fifth ring of the dial tone.

"Ronnie, why are you calling me?!"

"Hey babe," Ronnie was attempting to make his voice sound velvety enough to make a girl melt. He came across with a honey like tone. "I wanted to apologize for what happened."

"I told you to never speak to me again!"

"I'm sorry for kissing your sister while dating you. I see what I did wrong now." My eyes widened. Ronnie seriously kissed Amy's sister? While dating Amy?

"You'd better be!" Amy sounded really mad. She hung up immediately.

"And that," Ronnie declared, "is why I don't bother to reconcile with old girlfriends." I laughed at my friend. Then I turned to Grell. I think I should ask her to go to Homecoming with me.

"Grell," I said getting her attention, "truth or dare?"

"Truth!" She said cheerfully. I smirked and got ready.

"Grell, would you go to Homecoming with me?"


	7. Alan's Secret

_**I know it hasn't been long since our last update, but iamcalifornia was really excited. I hope you enjoy! (Also was updated on wattpad)**_

"Grell," I said getting her attention, "truth or dare?"

"Truth!" She said cheerfully. I smirked and got ready.

"Grell, would you go to Homecoming with me?"

Grell gasped. Her eyebrows raised, she was startled by my sudden question. Ronnie let out a low whistle, and Grell's cheeks flushed bright red. She bit her lip, looking down at Artemis, who still sat in her lap. Everyone's eyes were focused on her. She let out a low sigh, running a hand through her bangs. "I'm sorry Will, I just don't feel that way about you."

Ouch.

"I mean, we're just friends, that's all I've ever thought of you as, my best friend, kind of like an older brother." She continued.

Double ouch.

"Besides... I've already been asked out to Homecoming."

By that point, I wasn't even sure I could feel my heart anymore.

Our group fell silent. All that could be heard was the lake waters splashing and the bonfire crackling. Everyone still stared at Grell, until her face became as red as possible with embarassment. "Who asked you out?" Remi asked, her voice a whisper. It was barely audible over the noises that nature was producing.

Grell took a sharp intake of breath, carefully pondering over how to answer Remi's lingering question. "Um, Sebastian Michaelis, from South High."

Eric's face twisted up into a confused expression. "Who?"

"Sebastian," Grell repeated, flpping a log strip of her red hair over her shoulder. "At the last home football game, which was against the South High Demons, our cheerleaders performed at halftime. He was impressed by me, and he came up to me and started talking to me after the game. We exchanged numbers, and the rest is history," She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Are you sure he wasn't just impressed by the cheerleading uniform?" Remi asked. When she attended our school, she was the cheer team captian. "I mean, the North High Reaper's cheerleaders aren't exactly known for having the most modest uniforms."

Impossible became possible, Grell became even redder - and angrier. She shot straight up from where she was sitting, and Artemis scampered over to me, cowering as she hid between my legs. "Excuse you, Remington, but ever since you left North High, they're purchased nicer uniforms - with skorts!"

Remi laughed, throwing her head back. She and Ronnie's laughs were nearly identical, the two harmonized as Ronnie joined in on the laughter. Remi wiped a tear from her eye, still forcing back the laughter. "I see they took up my suggestion, that's wonderful. I was never keen on how often the other girls used it as an excuse to flash the boys in the crowd."

Grell pouted, sitting back down in her rightful spot. "Just to let you know, I was never one of those girls, Remi."

"Neither was I, neither was I," Remi repeated her words as she patted Grell on the back. "You're still as fiery as ever, Grell."

"Um, guys?" Alan piped up. I looked over to him, he had surprised us all. He hadn't spoken a single word since Grell and I had arrived. "C-Can we do something other than Truth or Dare?"

"Aw, c'mon, kid," Remi taunted. "Too scared?"

Alan shook his head, closing his eyes. "No, it's just not my thing."

"Alan," Grell protested. "You haven't even gone yet though!"

"I really just don't want too." He mumbled, staring down at his lap.

"Just one?" Ronnie asked, hugging his knees tight to his chest.

"Fine," He gave in. Remi and Ronnie hi-fived, smiling at each other. Not only were their laughs identical, but as were their facial features. When Ronnie used to be as tall as Remi, the two of them were often mistaken as twins. They even had similar glasses.

"Okay, Alan," Eric started. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," He blurted out. I wasn't surprised by his answer, I knew he wouldn't want to perform some weird, embarassing act like I had to with the chicken dance.

Eric looked to us, his expression blank. "I can't think of anything for truth, all I had was dares."

"Ooh!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Tell us about your deepest, darkest, secret. Something that almost nobody knows about you!"

Alan bit his lip, avoiding everyone's gaze by staring out to the lake. He brushed a strand of his brown hair, which was starting to grow long, behind his ear. "Um, I..." He started, his voice trailing off. "I play... the Alto Clarinet in band."

"Come on!" Grell sighed.

"I already knew that, dude. Everyone in our band knows that, you surpass everyone," Ronnie stated.

"More accurately, Ronnie, everyone surpasses you," Remi quipped. "I wouldn't say that you're the best drummer in the world."

"Don't hate the drummer!" Ronnie threw his hands up in defense.

"Okay, Alan," I started. "That one was kind of obvious, we're gonna do a retry. Try and think of something that none of us would know, something... something that you wouldn't ever want to find out."

Alan chuckled at my prompt. "Okay, I guess this one would work..." He began, "Well, I guess Eric already knows this, but literally nobody else does..." He paused, sucking in air. "Over the summer, I was diagnosed with a disease, The Thorns of Death."

Again, more silence fell over this. Remi's hand flew to her mouth, covering her gasp. "Oh my..." She murmured.

"So that's what's causing the attacks," I mumbled. I would've never known.

"What, what is it?" Ronnie asked both Remi and Alan. Remi was majoring in science and medicine, so it was necessary that she studied up on her diseases to pass her classes. Alan obviously had to know about it, he was the one who contracted it.

"It's tricky to explain..." Alan mumbled, looking to Eric. Eric gave a sad smile and rubbed a comforting hand up and down Alan's back.

"It's an infectious disease," Remi explained. "Nobody knows how it's contracted. But basically, it's a weird pattern of thorns that manifest on the body, slowly making their way to the heart and attacking the body on the way there. Usually, once they reach the heart, the thorns attempt to suffocate the heart, and eventually kill the person who's contracted it."

"That sounds about right." Alan nodded.

"So, wait, does this mean that Alan's life is in danger?" Ronnie asked, still confused. He had never been the best when it came to science, he often failed in understanding anything relating to the subject.

"You idiot, of course it does," Remi hissed, scolding her little brother. "Alan, I know this is a little personal, and a bit weird too, but do you have any of the thorns that have scarred your body?"

Alan nodded solemnly, his eyes on the brink of tears again. We all crowded around him, and I could tell he was nervous, having so much attention on him at once. He tugged at the collar of his shirt, revealing what looked like black barbed wire etched into his pale white skin. The pattern traced up from his left shoulder, across his collar bone, and cutting off right above his chest. "I'm having surgery over winter break. Some doctors who specialize in The Thorns of Death are coming in then, they're going to try remove them."

"Alan, they're not going to try. They will." Eric rephrased. "They will remove The Thorns of Death. If they only try, this stupid disease could eventually reach your heart and kill you, Alan. I don't wanna see that."

"Thanks, Eric," Alan smiled at his friend. He pulled his shirt back up, concealing the thorns.

Ronnie shook his head. "We're gonna do whatever we can to support you through this, okay Alan? And we'll make sure you have the time of your life before this surgery happens." He reassured.

"Actually, not to rain on your parade, but overworking Alan's body could cause The Thorns of Death to spread faster," Remi informed.

Ronnie shrugged, unaffected by his sister's statement. "Okay, we'll just do whatever it takes to keep you happy until then." I took his promise and adjusted it to fit with Remi's guidelines, earning a nod and thumbs up from the elder Knox sibling.

"Alright, can we be done now?" Alan asked, wringing his hands together nervously.

"But Remi still hasn't gone." Ronnie pointed out, elbowing his sister. She leaned over and slapped his arm, shaking her head. "Just saying!"

Remi sighed, brushing a few fallen strands of ginger hair out of her face. She looked over to Alan, her lime green eyes sympathetic. "We can be done with this after my turn, Alan," she stated, earning groans from Grell and Ronnie. She pointed cold glares and accusing fingers to them, silencing their complaints. "Go ahead, hit me with your best shot. I take dare."

Alan stood from his seat, brushing off his jeans. He walked over to Remi and crouched down next to her, cupping his hands around her ear and dropping his voice to a whisper. He spoke into her ear for a long while, his dare must've been really complicated. Unable to overhear what he was saying, I watched Remi's facial expressions to try and find some clues to what his was talking about. She went from confused, to shocked, relieved, understanding, and back to confused. He removed his hands from her ears, and she leaned back. "Well, I would'a never guessed. Challenge accepted, kiddo."

Alan grinned and returned to his seat next to Eric. Eric turned to Remi, his eyebrows raise questioningly. "What was that all about?"

Remi shook her head, the hairs she previously brushed away fell astray again. "Nothing you need to be concerned about, only something I can execute when I return back to college." She leaned over to Eric and kissed his cheek. I turned to Alan, expected to see him downcast. Instead, the brunette had an almost deviously smug smile on his face. By the feeling in my gut, I presumed he had something up his sleeve. When Remi sat back down in her place, she flashed a wink at Alan. Whatever it was, they were most likely both in on it, Alan had probably explained in during his so-called secret dare.

Ronnie observed the same scene I just had. He awkwardly ran his hand over his stomach, looking down at it with pity. The growl that emerged from it could be heard by all of us, grabbing their attention. He looked around, his eyes catching with everyone else's and finally stopping with Remi. "I'm really hungry. Remi, where did you put the marshmallows?"

Motioning over to her tan SUV with her head, Remi outstretched her arms behind her. "In the back, Ronnie. Don't forget the graham crackers and chocolate."

"If I get all the chocolate out right now, you'll eat all of it," Ronnie joked as he rose from his seat on the blanket, walking over to his sister's SUV. He opened one of the side doors, and pulled out some Walmart bags overflowing with Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Hershey's Chocolate, and Jet-Puffed Marshmallows. "Who's up for s'mores?"

After indulging myself in several of the melt-in-your-mouth sweets, I returned back to my seat and pulled Artemis out of my knapsack. I hat put my kitten back into the bag while I we prepared s'mores so she wouldn't sneak off or get too close to the fire. Grell would hold a grudge against me for months if something happened to Artemis, and I'd never be able to forgive myself. The black feline began to lick my hand off with her sandpaper tongue clearing my knuckles of gooey marshmallow leftovers.

Grell sat down next to me, another s'more in hand. She had probably eaten four of them already and I was almost positive that she wouldn't stop at five. She reached into my lap to pet Artemis with her free hand while she took a bite of her s'more held in the other hand. As she stroked my cat's back, I noticed that she had painted her nails red, with the exception of her ring finger nail, which was black. I smirked, a cute and unique touch.

"She's a good little girl, isn't she?" Grell asked after she finished off her treat.

"Yep, she is," I agreed, nodding my head. Artemis mewed, the little diva loved having attention.

Eric walked back onto the blanket, and sat down in front of Grell and I. He rested his hands behind his head, staring at the bonfire behind us. "Well, the fire's dying down, and someone ate all of the chocolate. I guess that's our cue that it's about time to get going."

Grell giggled. I turned around, twisting my neck to see over my shoulder. Alan and Ronnie were chatting away as they roasted more marshmallows over the diminishing fire, and Remi stood facing us, nibbling away at a Hershey bar, by the look in her eye I could tell there was nothing more that girl loved than chocolate. Maybe Eric, but they had only started dating that night, and over a dumb round of Truth or Dare. Only time would tell if they'd actually last.

I sighed and packed Artemis back in her respectful pocket, earning myself an annoyed meow and a bat of her silky paw. I jammed the leftover snacks I had brought in the opposite pocket, and then helped Ronnie and Eric fold up the blanket we had used to sit on. Grell and Remi poured water from some bottles over ashes, which had once been burning wood. Upon contact, the embers created an awful hissing noise. Once we had everything packed away, Grell and I hopped into the convertible. Ronnie and Remi came up to the side of the car, the young of the Knox's leaning against the side door.

"Thanks for making it out, guys. Great seeing you guys again." Remi commented, smiling with a tilt of her head. "Hope you guys have a good fall break!"

"You too, Remi," Grell replied, starting up the convertible. "Ronnie, we'll see you on Wednesday."

Groaning, he banged his head onto the trunk of the convertible. "Don't remind me, I don't wanna go back. Why can't break just last forever?"

"That's why they call it break, you dork," Remi declared, shaking her head in disaproval. "We'll see you guys later."

"Yeah, we'll see you when we see you." I waved to them as we drove off. Out of the rear-view mirror, I watched as Eric, Alan, Ronnie and Remi said their goodbyes. Eric hugged Remi, kissing her forehead. I could see the hurt in Alan's eyes, but he tried his best not to let it get to him. As we drove away, I wondered about what is was that he whispered to Remi. He had some sort of scheme, and I was determined to find out.


	8. Happy Place

**_As I said, I will give you some Grelliam. Iamcalifornia and I just couldn't resist. I give all you Grelliam fans (ok...I'm one too), the cutest awkward scene I could muster! I hope you enjoy!_**

I pulled my backpack out of my locker and waltzed out of the school's front door. Heading to the parking lot, I stopped at the scarlet convertible. I waited for Grell to get her butt outside. She had to get her English book from the English room before she could go home, apparently.

After she had dumped me before we even went out, we went back to being best friends. Grell gave me rides home, did homework with me, and went out for milkshakes with Ronnie, Alan, Eric, and I. Everything was good and well with the world. I kind of alright with things being back to normal.

"Hey William!" I snapped out of my daydream to see Grell jogging over to the car. "Guess what!" I sighed as she stopped in front of me.

"What is it, Grell?" I asked. There was absolutely no way I could guess what she wanted me to. She bounced up and down repeatedly.

"You know about homecoming?!" Grell asked. She was really hyper this afternoon. Maybe she had too much coffee.

"Who doesn't know about homecoming?" I asked bluntly. Grell rolled her eyes and placed one delicate hand on her right hip.

"Guess," she ordered. I smirked and copied her stance. I had time to kill and the stamina to stand here all day. After the first minute Grell looked ticked off. The next minute she looked like she would die if she didn't tell me her news. "Fine!" Grell caved at the challenge. "We're playing the South High Demons!"

My jaw practically hit the concrete. "Does that mean-"

"Yes! Sebastian will be in town, not just for the Homecoming Dance, but the game as well!" Grell cheerfully informed me.

I wasn't as excited as she was. I had only planned to go to the game, and not the dance. That way I wouldn't have to meet this Sebastian. The only reason I was going to the game was because Ronnie and Alan, who were playing pep band, had asked me to come.

"Well, I guess I can determine whether or not this Sebastian, is worthy of Ronnie and I's Grell," I said. I pulled it of as a joke, but I was dead serious in my head.

"You guys are too protective!" Grell joked. I laughed along with her as we got into the convertible. "I can't wait for you and Ronnie to meet him!" Grell added happily. "You're going to love him!" Somehow I doubted that, but I didn't have the heart to tell her my thoughts.

I jumped into Grell's car and waited for her to join me. I awkwardly tried to get my friend's attention away from the subject of her date. "So, um," I desperately tried to think of something, "what's the date of the game?"

"It's this Friday!" Grell looked shocked. "How could you forget?!" I winced and then just put my head down in mock shame. Today was Thursday, the game was in a day.

"What dress are you wearing?" I asked. She brightened up and got into the driver's seat.

"It's the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen!" Grell chattered off. She hit the gas and began to speed out of the parking lot. "Will you're parents mind if I take you to my house to see it?"

"I'll text them quick," I said. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out my cell. I texted my mom that I was going to Grell's house for a little while. Mom texted me back the okay. "We're good," I informed my friend.

Grell talked about Sebastian and homecoming the whole way to her house. Apparently he was tall, had raven black hair, garnet eyes, and had the patience of a saint. I mean, come on. The only qualification I didn't meet was the garnet eyes. Okay, maybe the patience too. I was just as good as Sebastian! But if Grell wanted Sebastian over me, I could live with it. As long as my Grell is happy, I'm content.

Did I just call her my Grell?

"Here we are!" Grell said. She parked the car in the driveway of the house. Grell lived in a two story house. They had re-sided the house three years back during the summer, and now it was sided in brown. On the second floor over top of the garage, was Grell's room. There was only one window in her room, and right outside of it was a tall cottonwood tree. Many times Ronnie and I had climbed up that tree to sneak Grell in a McDonald's number 3, a chicken sandwich. Grell's parent's were vegetarians, whereas their daughter wasn't. Poor Grell was stuck with asparagus and lettuce instead of real food. Ronnie and I would sometimes feel bad and sneak her fast food.

Grell and I exited the convertible and walked up to the door. I followed Grell in and didn't really mind because her parent's liked me. "Don't worry," she informed me, "neither of my parents are home."

"So do you want me to wait downstairs while you change?" I asked. I didn't want to follow her into her room when she was planning to change. That would be super awkward for both of us.

"Yeah, sure," she said as she ran upstairs. I waited for a little while and set my bag on the floor. Then I got bored and sat on a red colored couch. I surveyed the room, the Sutcliffs had done some redecorating since I had been here last. The decor was all in red and black. The couches and seats were red, while the coffee tables and bookshelves were black. Last time I had visited them, the bookshelves and such were red, and the sitting places were black. I heard a click and looked up the stairs. At the top stood Grell.

"You look-" I was completely stunned. She looked absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. The dress was, of course, red. No other color was suitable. It appeared to be chiffon, and lightweight, probably so she could dance. The dress had a v-neck halter top that tied around her dainty neck. It was cinched at the waist by a sparkly jeweled belt. A knee-length skirt flowed like water with her every movement. Three-inch red high heels adorned her pale feet. They looked kind of like a sandal, with red satin wrapping around her toes and a red bow tying around her ankle.

"Does it look bad?" Grell asked, worried. She started down the stairs. I walked to the bottom of the stairs and waited.

"No," I told her, "you look ravishing." She blushed and looked away as she stepped down another step. She shouldn't have looked away. Grell missed the next stair step and fell. I jumped to catch her, and I cushioned her fall. We both thudded to the floor with Grell on top. Her legs were on either side of mine. It was the single most awkward position ever. "You okay?" I asked Grell. She gulped and nodded.

"What's going on?!"

Grell and I both jumped and I attempted to twist my head to see who had spoken. "Hi Dad," Grell said.

"Honey!" That voice could only belong to Grell's mother, "get off the poor boy before you kill him!" Grell obeyed her mother's command.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Sutcliff," I began awkwardly, "I can assure you that there is a perfectly good explanation for that awkward scene."

"There had better be," Grell's dad growled. I winced, and Grell rolled her eyes.

"I was showing William my dress for Homecoming, and I kind of fell," She put on her puppy dog eyes, causing her parents to melt.

"That's alright dear!" Her mother assured. "And William! How many times have I told you to call me Auntie!"

"We aren't related," I said bluntly.

"Come on Will," Grell's dad insisted, "why don't you stay for supper? We're having tofu tacos!" I didn't want to say no to Grell's parents, but I really hated tofu.

"Mom, Dad, I'm sorry," Grell interrupted, "but William has to help Ronnie with his English essay in an hour."

"I would love to any other time," I apologized, "but I made a promise." I was silently thanking Grell for her little white lie.

"That's alright," Grell's mom assured, "we understand." Grell walked me to the door.

"You might need this," she said, handing me my bag.

"Thanks!' I said, "see you at school, and you look amazing." She blushed and mumbled a thank you before shutting the door.

Lucky for me, I only lived a block away from Grell. I trudged the block home, trying not to think about Grell. I hope she hadn't hurt herself. It would be really bad if she sprained a wrist because of me. I sighed as I crossed my lawn. Finally home.

"Hey mom," I said tiredly as I walked in, "I'm back." My mom smiled warmly as she replied to my greeting.

"Come on, honey," she told me, "time for dinner." I sighed, wishing that my mother would quit calling me that.

Dinner was short, it only lasted for about half an hour. We had ordered pepperoni pizza for dinner, and it wasn't that great. I helped my mother wash the dishes before grabbing a can of cat food. I rushed hastily up the stairs to greet my kitty.

"Hey Artemis," I called. Hopefully my cat would come out of hiding. When I wasn't home she usually dragged her little stuffed mouse underneath my bed and hid there. "Where is my pretty kitty?" I asked. "Come on Artemis!" I encouraged, "I even got the tuna flavored!"

At the word 'tuna' my cat lunged out from underneath the bed. I smiled and praised my cat as I pet her. She purred as she leaned into the head rub. I laughed and opened the can. Artemis pounced on the cat food and wolfed it down in a minute. "Well someone's hungry," I teased. Artemis ignored me and began to wash her paws meticulously.

I jumped on my bed and sighed while thinking to myself. The day after tomorrow is homecoming. I know for a fact that I'm not going to the dance; however, I am going to the game. I'll probably just sit with Grell and Sebastian.

"Come on Will!" I turned to see Ronnie waving his drumsticks in the air. He was in Grell's car. Beside him sat Remi; she's Eric's date, after all. "If you don't hurry we'll all be late for the game!" I sighed and rushed to hop in Grell's convertible. I took shotgun; the seat closest to Grell.

"Let's go," I told Grell. She obliged and hit the gas. It was Friday, the day of Homecoming. Ronnie had dressed in a black wife beater, black cargo pants, black army boots, and had painted a death scythe tattoo on his right bicep. Remi must have designed that outfit for him. I looked at Remi's entourage. She was decked out in all green and black. A green bandana was tied around blonde-brown hair. Remi wore a sleeveless black tank top, green cargo pants, and black army boots that matched her brother's.

I got a good look at Grell. She was wearing a black summer dress that stopped at the knee. A green short sleeve sweater was placed over top of the dress. She wore knee-high black riding boots and had tied a red ribbon around her neck. It didn't quite match; though it sent a message. 'I may be with my school, but I'm my own person. Nobody owns me!'

Beside my friends, I appeared slightly nerdy. I had worn black khakis and a green long sleeved sweater. My attire resembled more of the person who got swirlies, than the person who hung out a bonfires and snuck into his friend's houses. "What do you think?" I looked up to see who had spoken. I had been so lost in my thoughts that I had completely forgotten about everyone else. Grell looked irritated that I hadn't answered.

"Think about what?" I asked. Everyone else stifled a laugh at my expense.

"I asked what you thought about staying for the dance," Grell paraphrased. I looked quizzically at my friend. "One of the sophomore girls really has a crush on you."

"Who?" I asked. I had no idea that anyone would have a crush on me.

"I think that she's Ashton's cousin," Grell stumbled. Ronnie and I both were stunned. Someone even remotely related to the Landers who would like me, even as a person, was a miracle.

"I'm not sure that's the best idea," I told her bluntly.

"She's really nice!" Grell protested.

"Even if I took her to the dance," I complained, "I have nothing to wear." I must have said something. Grell, Ronnie, and Remi all shared knowing glances. "W-what'd I say?" I asked fearfully. Knowing my friends, they had a sneaky plan up their sleeve.

"Let us handle that," Ronnie ordered. Grell had pulled into the school parking lot, which was packed. Being the thrifty person she was, Grell had set up a 'handicap' sign in her usual parking spot. I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Grell; only she would do that.

Grell parked expertly and Ronnie hopped out to remove the temporary sign. Remi and Grell reapplied their red lipstick and hopped out. I reluctantly joined them. "So guy's" I began, "where's Alan and Eric?"

"They're meeting us on the bleachers," Ronnie answered, "as will Sebastian."

"Here you are," Remi said, handing me a Walmart bag full of clothes, "this has a set of clothes for the dance. Do not forget!" I winced and muttered a yes ma'am.

I followed my friends through the gate and onto the football field. There was still fifteen minutes before the game started. We waltzed across the field toward the bleachers. A couple of football players whistled at us as we passed. Of course Ronnie turned around. "Thanks boys," he said mockingly in his falsetto, "I know, I look hot!"

"I'm not gay!" One of the jocks from South High yelled angrily. He made a move to hit Ronnie. Ronnie smirked and laughed at him.

"Truth hurts, bro," Ronnie said snidely. This time the jock really took a swing at him. I jumped forward but Eric had appeared out of nowhere and stopped the jock's fist.

"Save it for the game," Eric growled. The jock growled back, but still walked back to his team. "Come on," Eric said, "Alan and that Sebastian are over this way." He pointed to the bleachers. At the bottom of the bleachers stood Alan. He had his clarinet in his right hand and Ronnie's drum at his feet. Pep band was playing, after all. Talking to Alan was a tall, lanky boy with his back turned to us. He had long black hair that flowed to the nape of his neck. Alan pointed in Grell's direction and the boy turned. He had the reddest eyes I've ever seen. His entire face lit up when he saw Grell.

"Sebastian!" Grell squealed as she ran to the boy. She dove into his arms and Sebastian twirled her around. He set her down and pecked her on the nose. Grell blushed as red as her hair. I had a suspicion that I wouldn't like this 'Sebastian'.

"Happy place, Will," I muttered, "happy place."


	9. Homecoming Dance

**_Hello! It's me again with an update! If you are Sebastian fan.. forgive us... XD you'll find out... Read on my friends! Also on iamcalifornia's wattpad. (If you guys want a really good SebaGrell, go to her wattpad page... Intimate Interlude... It's good!) _**

"Happy places, Will," I muttered, "happy pla-"

"Hey, you're that William guy, aren't you?" Sebastian had unknowingly interrupted my attempt to ignore him with my 'happy places' tactic. I let out an annoyed groan, I hadn't even known him for five minutes and I was already positive that I didn't like him. I turned to face him and I was almost disgusted by the sight. He wrapped one of his overprotective muscular arms around Grell and she swooned into his chest. It made me sick that she had chosen him.

I shook my head, brushing away my jealous thoughts. "Yeah, that's me," I answered with a forced smile. I faked the happiness for Grell's sake - if she was happy with him, I was happy for them. But if that was the case. why was I so jealous, and why did I envy Sebastian so much for being chosen by Grell?

"Ah, I thought so," Sebastian answered with a nod. "My Grell just won't shut up about you."

"She won't?" I asked. What on earth would make Grell think that it was a good idea to talk about me, her best male friend, to her own boyfriend?

Grell nodded in agreement. "Yeah. About what a great person you are, everything you do for her," Sebastian trailed on, and I began to get the suspicion that he wasn't as bad as I expected. I could get use to being praised like this. "How you asked her out to Homecoming."

I was wrong. His last statement was spoken with a cold tone, and it hit me like a stab in the back. He shot a quick glare at me, a silent warning to stay away from his girlfriend. The look itself could send chills up anyone's back, but with the gleam in his crimson eyes, it was beyond creepy.

Eric came up behind me and patted my back. "It was a misunderstanding, William had no idea you two were even dating at the time. None of us did." I sighed in relief, I was glad that I could rely on Eric to back me up.

Sebastian nodded solemnly and sighed. "Ah, I get it. Just a little mistake." He chuckled under his breath. "Come on, I got us some great seats."

Our little group followed Sebastian into the stands. We were up on the third row, near the section reserved for the pep band. Grell chose to sit on Sebastian's lap, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder so he could peer out onto the field. Remi sat down next to Eric, leaning into him as she chatted away to him. I was confused as to why she returned to town from college, it was only Homecoming. All she was really going to do while she was into town was go to the dance with Eric and then leave the next morning.

Unluckily for me, I was sandwiched between the two couples. Ronnie looked up from the pep band area and waved to me, drumsticks in hand. He flashed me a supportive thumbs up, telling me that I could survive this football game wedged between two sets of lovers. His band director scolded him for not paying attention, which I found rather amusing. The band began to play our school's fight song as our football team ran onto the field, preparing for kickoff.

About five minutes into the first quarter, Grell squealed and nearly jumped out of her seat on top of Sebastian's let out a little gasp before explaining her unexpected burst of surprise."I can't believe I almost forgot! The North High Cheerleaders are performing at halftime!" She turned to Eric, Remi and I, her ruby red lips in a pout. "Sorry, guys, I'll come join you after the half, okay?"

We all nodded in understanding, mumbling our okays."Alright. See you then, babe," Sebastian answered, reaching up to kiss her cheek. She giggled and blushed due to his sign of affection, proceeding to skip down the bleachers over to the school to change into her cheerleader's uniform.

Sebastian was all happy-go-lucky - that is, until Grell was out of his sight. When he turned to me, his inner South High Demon began to show. "You better stay away from my girlfriend, Spears," he growled, his red eyes squinted into the creepy glare again.

"W-What do you mean?" I asked. I was trying to sound tough and brave, but my question came out like a scared whimper. Great, now he probably suspected me to be the biggest wimp ever.

He rolled his eyes, scoffing. "You know what I mean. I can just see it, you've got a thing for Grell. Just face it, Spears, she's mine."

Ouch. I shook my head, this was the perfect time to pull the clueless act. "Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Listen up. I'll put it into terms your brain can understand," He snarled. "Grell is my girlfriend. I want you to back off, you're getting a bit too close to her for my taste. Got it?"

I gulped down the fear. I couldn't let him see how frightened I really was. Sebastian could be extremely intimidating when he wanted to. "Got it," I answered with a sigh. I stood from my seat on the bleachers, brushing off my pants and picking up the Walmart bag of spare clothes Remi had given me earlier. "I'm gonna go grab something to eat," I mumbled as I left for the concession stand. But in all honesty, I just need an excuse to get away from Sebastian.

I pulled out my wallet and purchased a bag of popcorn and a bottle of Dr. Pepper. On my reluctant way back to the bleachers, I bumped into someone. I silently thanked my luck for stalling me on my way to the stands, back to Sebastian. "Whoa, sorry, Will," The voice, which I instantly recognized, said.

"Ronnie?" I asked, dumbfounded, staring at my blonde drummer friend in shock. I listened to the band playing in the background and I became even more confused. "What're you doing here, shouldn't you be playing with the band?"

He shrugged and unwrapped a Snickers bar, munching into the chocolate coated candy. "I was hungry," he stated simply, taking another bite. "Besides, it's the end of the first quarter. I deserve a little break, and a treat." He gestured to his Snickers and ran a hand over his stomach. "I'm not a good drummer when I'm hungry."

"Very funny." I laughed sarcastically at his take on the catchy commercial. Ronnie decided to join me on my way back to the bleachers, taking our time as we walked. "So, what's your impression of Sebastian?"

Ronnie shook his head, his ginger-blonde hair swishing around. "He's trouble," He mumbled through a mouthful of candy. "I don't like him, he's a big jerk whenever Grell's not around. Something tells me that he might be using her."

"I know," I agreed. "He threatened me to stay away and back off. He thinks I'm hitting on her!"

"That's messed up!" Ronnie gasped, his jaw dropping. He quickly shut his mouth and sighed. "I don't trust him with our Grell."

"Neither do I. Personally, I think someone needs to keep an eye on him. That's why I'm staying for the dance."

After several touchdowns and a win for the North High Reapers, the football game was over and it was time for the Homecoming dance to start. I observed myself in the filthy school bathroom mirror. I had changed into the clothes Remi had brought for me to wear to the dance. She had chosen a three-piece suit - a black tie, a white dress shirt, a grey waistcoat, and a black blazer. Remi even bothered to pick out a pair of slacks and a pair of black Barmoral shoes. I sighed and shook my head. I looked more like a business man heading to a huge meeting rather than a Homecoming dance attendee.

I watched Ronnie's reflection come up behind me in the mirror and felt him place his hands on my shoulder. "Looks like Remi went all out, huh? I told her she should've gone into fashion instead on medicine, she'd do so much better at that."

I turned around so I didn't have to face him through the mirror, chuckled. I gave Ronnie the classic up-down. His outfit looked like a lazier version of mine - he lost the blazer and vest and rolled his sleeves up, the tie hanging loosely over it. His nice black slacks looked a bit odd with the combat boots, but it was definitely something only Ronnie would wear. I laughed and patted his back. "C'mon, we should get going."

Ronnie and I exited the restrooms and headed into the gym, which had been retrofitted to fit the Homecoming dance mood. A DJ's booth was set up in one of the corners, the speakers beside it blasting an electro-dance song. Both girls in extravagant dresses and guys in suits were on the dance floor, everyone dancing and laughing and having a good time in general.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to Ronnie, who had the biggest grin imaginable on his face. "Well, I'm going in. This dance needs its Knoxinator!" I laughed at the dumb little nickname. It was what Ronnie called himself whenever there he was at a party. Without another word, he practically dove into the crowd of teenagers dancing, mingling with his fellow party animals.

Sighing and not particularly wanting to join him out there, I shyed away from the dance floor and stood against the wall, watching as all the other students twirled and whirled around like the crazy hooligans they were. That's when I noticed her.

From the trademark Landers white hair and purple eyes, I could tell that it was Ashton's cousin, the girl who had a crush on me, according to Grell. She stood over by the punch bowl, chatting away with a fellow sophomore. She wore a strapless amethyst dress with a ruffled skirt than fell just above her knees, along with a pair of silver stilettos dotted with sparkling gems. Her gaze wandered over to me, and her already large violet eyes grew even wider. She handed her cup to her friend and walked through the crowd, over to me. I could almost feel her heart thumping with anxiety as she approached me. "H-Hi William," she stuttered. Her eyes poured into mine and I could tell by the look in them that she wasn't overconfident or outgoing like her uncle or cousin. It caught me by surprise, I presumed narcissism ran in the family.

"Hey," I replied casually with a small wave of my hand. "You're Ashlyn Landers, right?"

She smiled and held back a giggle. "Yeah, that'd be me." She sighed and wrung her hands nervously, looking down away from me. I'd seen this act many time before, girls often used it to get what they wanted from a boy. The helpless innocent girl act.

Of course, I didn't want to let her down or ruin her night, so I gave her what she was looking for. "Can I have this next dance? Surely you didn't come here dressed up so nice just to watch everyone else have a good time."

Her eyes darting back up to me and she suppressed a squeal, an ear-to-ear smile on her lips. "I'd love to! I-I mean, yes." She quickly rephrased as I led her onto the dancefloor.

The DJ had decided to play a slow song then, changing the mood completely. Couples met up and began swaying to the music, and those who didn't have one simply waited against the walls and took a break. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Ronnie trying to convince Amy Anderson to dance with him, and I instantly got the gut feeling that it wouldn't end well.

Moments later, Ronnie was doused in red, fruit punch. The sticky liquid dripped from strand of his ginger hair and seeped into his shirt as he stared at Amy in shock. The poor girl looked like she was going to cry. "I thought I told you to leave me alone, you jerk!" She shouted, throwing down her empty cup and storming out of the gym doors dramatically.

Ashlyn turned back to me, her face curious. "What on earth was that about?" she asked me, her voice a whisper.

I shrugged. "They have a history."

I continued to dance with Ashlyn, my hands around her tiny waist her hers dangling around my neck. She was quite a bit shorter than me, even with heels, so I could see over her head. Of course, the unsavory sight of Grell and Sebastian dancing wasn't exactly the view that I wanted. She had a lovesick smile on her lips, and he leaned in to kiss her lips. She leaned into his chest, the two continuing to dance. She looked happy.

I just wished she was happy with me.

After trying to help Ronnie find his wife beater tank from earlier that night, I danced some more with Ashlyn, and when the dance was over, I did the gentlemanly thing and led her to her car - or, Ashton's car. The warm October evening air had turned chilly, so I wrapped my blazer over her bare shoulders as we went outside.

As we arrived by Ashton's beloved white Cadillac, Ashlyn turned to me, smiling. Her lavender eyes shone in the moonlight as she stared up at me. "Thanks for tonight. It was great."

"It was," I agreed. Even though I would've rather spent my night with Grell, Ashlyn was a sweethearted girl, extremely kind and considerate. I still couldn't believe she was related to Ashton or Mr. Landers. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

After a wonderful night, I couldn't just leave her hanging. I did what they did in all those cliche teen romance movies - I leaned in for the kiss.

That probably wasn't the best idea, considering that Ashton was coming up right behind us.

"Spears!" He shouted. I whipped around to see him. His face was red with rage, brining contrast to his completely white suit. He stormed up to me, clutching Ashlyn by her fragile shoulders and pulling her away from me. He glared at me with disgust. "What do you think you're doing with my little cousin?!" He snapped.

I backed away, throwing my hands up in defense. "Ashton, this isn't what it looks li-"

"Oh, don't pull that crap, Spears! It's exactly what it looks like!" He shouted, roughly forcing Ashlyn into the backseat of his car.

Ashlyn stared at him, confused. "Ashton, it's really alright, he was just-"

"Don't defend him, Ashlyn!" He barked, interrupting her attempt to protect me and the situation. "You and I are having a serious conversation on the way home." He glared at me before walking over to the driver's side, hopping in. Before he shut the door, he gave me the ever-cruel head-to-toe judgement. He scoffed and slammed the door without another word, speeding away as I watched him helplessly.

I stood there, waiting in shock for a moment. I hoped Remi didn't pay too much for the suit jacket, Ashlyn didn't have the chance to give it back to me before she was forced to leave.

I sighed and walked over to Grell's car, Ronnie joined me shortly after. He removed his wife beater, wiping his sweaty forehead with it. "Long night?" He asked.

"You have no idea." He answered.

"Same here.


	10. Pre-Party Plans

_**Sorry for the wait on the chapter. (I was grounded for a little while.) To make up for it, I give you William. Hehe... As always, this is posted on iamcalifornia's wattpad page.**_

It had been a week since the Homecoming dance. That had been mid-October, and it was the 27th, a Saturday. I was stuck helping Ronnie plan yet another party, this time for the ever-exciting October 31st. This year, my doppelgänger had decided to host a costume party. I sighed as I dropped some decorations in the living room. I stared at the heap of horror and slightly gruesome decor with slight happiness. Halloween was my favorite holiday.

"Hey William!" I twisted around to see Ronnie. "We should set up the skeleton next to the couch!"

"Why?" I asked, questioning his motives. Sometimes I didn't completely understand my friend, or the way his mind functioned. The person in question smiled evilly, showing off the fake vampire fangs in his mouth.

"So we can scare girls onto the couch and into our awaiting arms," Ronnie said slyly. I punched him none-to-lightly on the arm. "Ow," he mock-winced, faking pain.

"Get your head outta the gutter, Ronnie!" I said, laughing. We laughed with each other and began to set up our skeleton. " ", or so we called him, was placed in the corner closest to the front door, so he could properly greet the guests. The party wasn't for another four days, but setting up early was fun.

"Where should I put this?" I asked holding up a large and rather heavy cauldron. Ronnie motioned towards the couch. I set it down just in front, and close to the middle of the room. Grabbing a bag of black streamers, I began to hang them from the ceiling in a curtain-like fashion.

"Here," Ronnie said, throwing me another bag with purple streamers. I gave him the 'thumbs up' before intertwining them with the black ones.

"Where'd that gravestone go?" I asked Ronnie, looking around at my feet. "I think I set it down with the other decorations, but I can't find it."

"Sorry," Ronnie apologized, "I placed it in the corner."

"Kay," I nodded, "fine with me." I picked up a dark purple table cloth and smoothed it out over the coffee table. Following it was a black lace doily. The coffee table looked a little too goth, it needing a little more of a scare factor. Smirking to myself, I added two cracked skulls and dug for the package of fake spiderwebs. I laced them in between the skulls and draped them on the table. "There we go!" I yelped as I jumped back to survey my work. "Ronnie, have you gotten anything done?!"

He didn't answer so I turned to his side of the room. I jumped, he had done amazing. "What d'ya think?" Ronnie asked me.

"Wow," I breathed. Ronnie had placed fake wolf shadows on the walls. A small curtain of webs hung from the doorway that led to the kitchen. A large rocking chair now hosted a life size black cat dusted in purple powder and adorned with a witch's hat. "I don't remember this one," I said reaching to touch the cat decor. It purred and pounced on my hand playfully. "Artemis!" I shrieked, recognizing it as my own cat. I turned to Ronnie, "what'd you to my cat?!"

Ronnie twiddled his thumbs. "I just uh, threw your cat into some sparkles and glitter and gave her a little hat."

"What will I do with you," I sighed. Ronnie was sometimes over the top, but that was the reason we were such good friends. He was an out-of-control locomotive. Ronnie always balanced out my stoic and sometimes snobby attitude.

"Do you have your costume?" I looked up bewildered. Ronnie hadn't mentioned anything about a costume.

"Huh?" I asked, confused. Realization dawned in Ronnie eyes.

"Oh," he said blushing, "sorry for not getting you informed." Ronnie chuckled awkwardly. "It was changed to a costume party." I picked up Artemis and petted her.

"I don't have one though," I pondered on how I was to get one, but I figured Ronnie would have something up his sleeve.

"I have a bunch of costume pieces from a lot of years back," Ronnie offered, "we can put something together right now." I nodded and he led me to his attic. True to Ronnie's word, there was a crap-load of clothes and outfits. I set Artemis down before I sifted through a batch of black garments, I found a pair of leather pants.

"Ronnie," I said getting my friends attention, "why do you even own leather pants?"

"I have no idea," he admitted, shrugging his shoulders, "things just make their way to my attic." I put the pants back and moved on to another pile. I saw red, and immediately pulled the item out. In my hand was a red velvet dress complete with black lace. The color was high and resembled something from the Victorian Era. "Now that's hot!" Ronnie said, cracking up.

I rolled my eyes and went on another search. Ronnie interrupted my dig to toss me an outfit. "Try it on," he said motioning to a bathroom door. I changed. I was in a white sailor outfit. Complete with a rectangular collar with blue trim, and a sailor hat. The pants rode up like high waters.

"Ronnie," I complained walking out, "I look like Steve Urkle going out for the navy." Ronnie was rolling on the floor laughing at me. Even Artemis appeared to be humored by my get-up. I stalked off to the other side of the room, and I saw a black cape. It was lined in red silk. I couldn't help but try it on.

"Now that," Ronnie said, "is more your-speed. I got it!"

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"A vampire!" Ronnie said hopping. "Oh my gosh! Go get those leather pants again!" I sighed and obeyed my friend. Hopefully his plan would work.

I found the leather pants and went back to Ronnie. He greeted me with a black vest with silver buttons in his right hand. In his left, he carried a white dress shirt complete with ruffle at the neck. Ronnie tossed them to me and pointed back to the bathroom.

"Yes Ronnie," I wasn't dumb enough to object. I threw my sailor costume aside and slipped into my knew outfit.

I walked out awkwardly. The pants felt weird. "Um, Ronnie," I protested.

"Shut up, William," Ronnie ordered, "you look more fabulous than Grell. If she were here, she would have melted into a puddle of drool."

"It can't look that good," I argued. Ronnie shook his head.

"Dude," he said, "If I looked that good as a vampire, I wouldn't be costuming as a gothic Tamaki zombie." We laughed together, even though I had no idea what a 'Tamaki' was.

"Wait," I said, "what the heck's that?"

"My sister made me watch Ouran Highschool Host Club when we were little," he explained, "one of the characters, Tamaki, seemed interesting, so I wanted to be him. Then I wanted to be a goth, then a zombie. So I finally decided on being all three at once!"

"That makes no sense," I said, "but okay." Ronnie just smirked and pulled out his cellphone.

"What are you doing?" I asked Ronnie.

"Getting Grell over here," Ronnie said casually, "she will love your costume." I blushed and tried to take away his cellphone. His texting, however, was much to fast. Ronnie had sent the message before I could stop him. The only thing I could do now was change, and fast. "Oh, no you don't!" Ronnie stopped me. "I will tie you up if you even attempt to change!" I gulped as I glanced around the room. Sure enough, amidst the Halloween supplies were coils of rope to hang decorations, or me, depending on the situation.

I stayed in place and heard a door slam. Grell had gotten here fast. I could hear her running to Ronnie's attic. She stopped in the room, panting. She took one look at me and was shocked in place.

"Does it look bad?" I asked. She shook her head no before regaining her composure.

"No!" She chirped, "you look hot!" I turned tomato red at the compliment. Good thing I wasn't walking down any stairs, I might have fallen like Grell did before Homecoming.

"Um, Grell," Ronnie said motioning to the corner of his mouth, "ya got a little drool there." Grell huffed at Ronnie, but her eyes never left me for a minute.

"Any girl with eyes and a taste in guys would be drooling!" Grell protested. She pantomimed for me to spin in a circle. I felt a pang of triumph that I was the one that Grell was fawning over, not that Sebastian. Smirking to myself I heard Grell talking to Ronnie. "We could get him fangs," she was saying.

"Yeah," Ronnie agreed, "and maybe even a cane or some kind of prop."

"We wouldn't even have to paint him white," Grell said, "he's plenty pale enough." Ronnie nodded in agreement. They huddled and discussed me for a while.

"Guys," I interrupted, "I'm standing right here." They both chuckled awkwardly in my direction as they muttered half-hearted apologies.

"You just look so perfect!" They said in unison. I picked up Artemis and began to pet her in earnest. At least one creature in the room wasn't affected by my wardrobe choice. She purred as I scratched her chin.

"So what are you going to be, Grell?" I asked the girl who was currently drowning in a puddle of her own drool.

"Oh," she snapped out of it, "I'm going as a Neko." Ronnie smiled devilishly. I looked between him and Grell, confused. Was I the only one in the room who didn't know what a Neko was?

"Great," Ronnie smirked, "you and Artemis can be two of a kind." I finally got it.

"Oh!" I jumped, "you're going as a cat!" I smiled giddily to myself like a moron. Well, I learn something new everyday.

"Yep!" Grell chirped, "I would try it on right now, but I want it to be a surprise!" She squealed. I couldn't wait to see a Kitty Grell.

"Can I take this off yet?" I asked. My pants were really beginning to rub in weird places.

"Why?" Ronnie asked. I awkwardly muttered something about homework. Like I was going to tell my friends that my thighs were chapped. "That's fine," Ronnie said, shrugging.

I changed back into my clothes and grabbed my cat. I tossed my costume into a random Walmart bag and stopped to straighten a fake cobweb. "See ya'll later!" I yelped as I left.

I rushed home and sighed in relief as I shut the door to my room. "There you go, Artemis," I said as I tossed my cat onto a random pillow. I rushed downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey mom," I said, hugging my mother, "I'm back! I was planning to watch a movie in my bedroom. Do we have any popcorn?" Mom rolled her eyes at me.

"Yes," she pointed to a cupboard, "we also have some Kit-Kats in the refrigerator."

"Thank you!" I ran for the fridge. Mom knew I loved Kit-Kats. I grabbed them out of the fridge and hugged them gratefully. Waltzing back to the cupboard, I pulled out a bag of popcorn. I tossed it in the microwave and waited for the bell to signify the completion of my buttery delicacy.

I rushed to the living to snatch up the first movie I saw. Catching Fire, the single best book I've read. The movie was good enough, but still nothing could do the book justice. I happily skipped up to my room and popped the DVD into my laptop.

Artemis meowed at me and crawled onto my lap to sneak a bite of my Kit-Kat. "Uh-uh, Artemis! I scolded, pulling my candy out of her reach. I appeased my cat with a piece of popcorn. She happily munched on it before parking herself permanently in my lap.

We watched in awe as Katniss and Peeta endured trial after trial. My cat was watching with wide eyes and we both teared up. It was heart-wrenching. "Hey Will!" The shout of my dad's voice and the slam of the front door interrupted our movie-marathon. I paused the movie and hurried down to meet my dad.

"How was work?" I asked him. He smiled and patted my head. I frowned at my dad. I hated it when he patted my head. I wasn't a little kid.

"It was fine," Dad said, "your mother just wanted me to get you for dinner."

"Okay," I said, "I'll be ready in a minute. I just need to go and feed my cat." I returned upstairs to give Artemis her meal. Artemis greeted me with a meow of agitation. I laughed, maybe the popcorn didn't suffice. I opened the can of cat food and set it on the floor and watched my cat pounce on it happily. Then I went for my own supper.


	11. Unlucky Leather Pants

**_Hi hi! Thank you for reading this! It means a lot to iamcalifornia and I! The chapter updates might take longer than usual from now on. (I may or may not have been downed on Internet time...) Inspiration for this chapter came from the song, "Leather Pants", a "Bad Romance" parady. _**

Leaves rustled around my feet as I rushed down the sidewalk to Ronnie's house. Although the party didn't start for at least another hour, I wanted to be ther early. Inside the plastic Walmart bag that I carried was the cliche vampire costume that Ronnie had helped me pick out earlier that week. I shivered as a gust of wind blew by me, I wished I had worn something heavier than my hoodie, even though it was only a short walk over to the Knox household.

Skipping the second step, I nimbly leaped up the porch. I took a breath before rapping my fist against the door repeatedly. It creaked open, I suspected to add a creepy effect. It quickly swung open, and I was confronted with the weirdest sight to man, which Ronnie had described as a 'gothic zombie Tamaki'.

Ronnie was dressed in a black school boy's uniform, which frayed away at the ends and tore in random places. All of his skin that was visible had been painted a pasty white color, and he had used dark makeup to make his eyes and cheekbones seem deeper. He had even simulated the illusion of skin on his right cheek flaking off in clumps. He had popped in white contacts, making only his pupils visible. On his head was a short, platinum blonde wig, covering his usual ginger-blonde and black hair. "Well?" He asked. "Wha'dya think?"

I gave him the up-down, observing his costume a second time. "Well..." I trailed off, looking away nervously.

He sighed and hung his head down in shame, his wig tilting to the side slightly. "I know, it's awful. I'm really starting to regret choosing this as my costume."

I sighed and chuckled, patting his back with a sarcastic sympathy as I walked into the house. "Hey, it's memorable."

"It's ridiculous," Ronnie corrected as we walked into the living room. He flopped down on the couch, running a hand through his fake blonde hair. "I'm probably gonna change out of it sometime through the party, I feel like an idiot."

"You kinda look like one, too." I was attempting to keep from flat-out laughing at my friend.

"Shut up, I already know I do." He rolled his white eyes. He looked up to me questioningly. "So, are you gonna get into your costume or what?" He asked, his eyes wide with excitement.

I sighed. I wasn't exactly up for putting on the leather pants at that time. "Fine," I agreed. "Grell told me you found some fangs?"

"Ooh, yeah!" He yelped, pulling a little coffin-shaped box out of his pocket. I could see two little shape-pointed teeth and some tooth adhesive inside. "We went digging through Party City and found these babies. We got some weird looks as we ran around muttering about where the heck would they be," Ronnie chuckled.

"Sweet," I said, taking the box from him. "I'll go get this on, but you better have the candy out by the time I'm done." I added as I dashed to the restroom to change.

"Kit-Kat addict!" He shouted, cracking up at his own joke as I slammed the door to bathroom closed, locking it behind me. I sighed and opened up the Walmart bag, staring at the dreaded leather pants and the rest of the costume. I decided just to get it over with and put it on without complaining.

Everything slipped on easily, with the exception of the leather pants, which probably took me at least five minutes to wiggle into. I popped the fangs into my mouth and let them dry into place as I ruffled up my hair. I stared at the green-eyed vampire who stood in the mirror before me. I groaned, I still couldn't believe Grell found this attractive. Even more, I couldn't believe I was doing this to myself just to get her attention away from Sebastian. I'm a despicable person.

"Will!" Ronnie's voice chimed from the other side of the door, accompanied by a knock. "I've got your beloved Kit-Kats!"

Smiling evilly to myself in the mirror, I flashed my fangs to my reflection. I swung the door open, taking the bowl of Kit-Kats and other chocolate-covered candies away from him and carrying it to the living room. I slumped down on the couch and unwrapped the Kit-Kat from its red wrapper, popping it in my mouth as I kicked my feet up onto the coffee table, making it my own footrest. I relaxed in the couch and flipped my head back, staring up at the ceiling.

Ronnie sat down next to me and grabbed a Snickers from the candy bowl, nibbling on it happily. "We've got probably ten minutes until guests start arriving. Anything we can do before the party starts?" He asked.

"Um," I pondered, cocking my head to the side. "You've got all the snacks set up?"

"Yep," Ronnie answered, popping the 'p' of his reply. "Punch with fake eyeballs and everything."

"Nice."

"I thought so," He chuckled. "Well, I'm gonna go take this ugly thing off, and crank up the stereo. If anyone arrive at the door, just invite 'em inside, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed as he jumped up from the couch and bounded up the stairs, leaving me alone in the living room. I sat around, picking at the Kit-Kats in the bowl of candy I had stolen from Ronnie. I was starting to get comfortable when I heard the doorbell ring. I groaned and stood from the couch, slinking over to the door and swinging it open. I mumbled a hello to the group of Juniors that walked inside from the porch.

Once the four of them had come inside, I shut the door behind them. I turned to look up at the staircase and saw Ronnie barreling down, his ginger-blonde hair bouncing with every step. He had lost the costume and changed into a white dress shirt, a black waistcoat, a pair of skinny jeans, and his old, beaten-up Converse. He loosened the black tie around his neck, relieving his neck of the pressure.

I gaped at him. I couldn't believe my sly friend. "I thought you said this was a costume party!" I hissed at him.

He shrugged and walked over to his radio, stationed next to the skeleton by the door. He twisted some knobs, and soon it was blaring music. "I never said that the costumes were required," he said, snickering under his breath.

I smacked him upside the head, my jaw still in its dropped position. "Dude, so why am I even wearing this?!"

He laughed and patted my back. "Because Grell thinks you look hot in this. Don't worry, the majority of my party-goers will be in costume." Ronnie leaned in toward my ear. "I heard she's bringing Sebastian with her, and some of his friends from South High are tagging along, too. Knowing who he is, you might wanna do your best to keep her away from him and his clique."

I nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." I honestly didn't want to see what would happen if Grell got too involved with the Sebastian and his gang.

About an hour later, the entire house had filled up with people. Ronnie was right, most of them were dressed up. I stood against the wall in the living room, a cup of punch in my hand. I nodded my head lightly to the beat, my gaze focused down at my shoes, which also tapped to the hard bass erupting from Ronnie's stereo. I was drawn out of my little bubble by a tap on my shoulder. "So, what do you think?"

I perked up once I realized someone was trying to get my attention. Before me stood Grell, dressed up in her 'Neko' outfit. Her red hair was tied up in a high ponytail, with a few strands falling down to frame her face. Her hairdo was adorned with a pair of perky cat ears that matched her hair. She wore a schoolgirl's outfit, with a red tie and matching pleated skirt with a tail cascading behind it. She wore a pair of red heels and knee-high black stockings. She grinned at me, her green eyes sparkling. "I didn't feel like going all out this year, it's nothing too big."

I nodded, seeing her point. I felt a bit of shame for wearing my costume. I shrugged it off, it was only peer pressure. "I think it's cute." I said, taking a sip of my punch.

"Oh, good!" She squealed. "I thought I'd get your opinion before showing Sebastian! You wanna come with me to greet him?"

Out came the punch. I couldn't even help it, the drink just spewed out of my mouth. I knew that Sebastian would be coming, but I didn't expect that I'd actually have to interact with him. Embarassed by my actions, I wiped off my mouth with the back of my hand. I sighed and nodded, giving in. "Sure, I guess I will."

"Great!" She yelped, taking my by the hand and dragging me through the crowd. She led me into the dining room, which was just as crowded as the living room. Over in the corner stood Sebastian, chatting away with two other people. I gulped, after my last incident with him, I wasn't exactly thrilled to see him again. I felt my stomach backflip as we drew nearer and nearer to them. "Hey Sebastian!" Grell greeted her boyfriend.

"Hey, there you are!" he replied, kissing Grell's forehead, which proceeded to make her blush and giggle. "Ah, and William. It's been a while, how are you?" Sebastian asked, giving me a fist-bump. He grinned and chuckled and I faked the same back to him. I knew he was only pretending to show enthusiasm for Grell, he was a much better actor than I was. Recieving a jab in the ribs, I understood Grell's message to shape up my act.

"I'm alright," I replied. I could feel myself sweating nervously, just being around Sebastian made me tense up.

"I don't think I've introduced you guys," Sebastian stated, gesturing from his friends to Grell and I. "Grell, Will, this is Claude and Hannah."

I surveyed the two that Sebastian had just shown me to, and the two did the same with me. Claude had chosen to dress casually, black skinny jeans an a unbottoned red plaid shirt over a white wife beater. His golden eyes glared at me through his glasses, sending a chill up my spine. He sighed and ran a had through his jet-black hair, noticing our eye contact had made things awkward between us. Hannah, on the other hand, had chosen to go big with her costume. She wore a skimpy witch's costume that accentuated her curves and had a skirt too short for my taste, followed by thigh-high stockings and knee-high heeled boots. So far, I wasn't impressed by Sebastian's choice in friends.

I needed an excuse to get away from them, and fast. I could feel their judgemental looked towering over me, and I didn't like it. "Um, I'm, ah..." I fumbled over my own words, making myself look like an even bigger idiot than I already did. "I'm gonna go get some more punch, I... I'll be right back." With a huff of breath, I rushed away from them. I was so focused on who I was getting away from that I didn't even notice who I had knocked into and spilled what was left of my punch on. But my the yelp of surprise, I knew it wouldn't end well. "Oh my god, I am so sor-"

"No, no, it's okay."

"No, it's not, I wasn't paying attention and I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm sorry."

"William," the voice insisted, taking me by the shoulders. I looked down and saw Ashlyn Landers, a shocked smile on her lips. She was dressed all in white - with the exception of the red fruit punch stain on the right side of her bodice - like an angel. She had a little halo suspended up above her head, and a fluffy pair of wings. "it's okay. It was a cheap Walmart costume. 'Bout time I changed out of it, anyway. Good thing I brought a spare pair of clothes, right?" she laughed.

"Yeah... but still, I'm sorry."

She brushed my apology away with her hand. "It's no biggie. Speaking of, I should go change... See ya." With that, Ashlyn submerged herself into the crowd, probably to go find her spare outift.

Sighing, I reluctantly turned around and retraced my steps back to where I had came from. Knowing my luck, if I got more punch, I'd just have a repeat of the previous incident. I was only halfway back to where I had left from when I noticed the atmosphere had changed entirely.

Both Hannah and Claude had disappeared from the scene, it was Grell left alone with Sebastian. He had his arms around her waist, his head held low to whisper in her ear. Her face flushed red and he kissed her cheek. The action had quickly turned into something more, the two of them had locked lips, kissing each other passionately.

I watched from afar, like it was a scene in a movie. I smiled half-heartedly even though I could feel myself being torn apart inside. If Grell was happy, then I was happy, right?

No. I was jealous.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Yes! Yet another chapter written! I hope you all enjoyed William's leather pants! Heheheheheh... If you see any grammatical errors or anything like that, please let me know! I will try and get it fixed ASAP. Enjoy!**_

Ashton bided his time patiently. He waited calmly amongst the fake cobwebs in the living room. Ronnie had certainly outdone himself this year, and all the decorations would definitely work to Ashton's advantage. He gripped a small metal flask with his sweaty hands. All Ashton had to do was wait for Alan to leave his best friend's side.

Alan and Eric were both standing in a far corner, talking to William. The youngest of the three, Alan, hadn't dressed in a costume, but a small pair of brown cat ears adorned his head. Eric had deigned himself to be to 'cool' to dress up. William on the other hand, was still decked out in his vampire finery. They were all awkwardly talking to each other.

"I'll be back in a moment, Eric!" Ashton looked up to see Alan walking over to the punch table to get both him and Eric a drink. Ashton checked to make sure that Eric was still conversing with William. Ashton walked up behind Alan while unscrewing the lid to his flask.

"Excuse me Alan," Ashton purred under his breath as he moved to get some punch. He 'accidentally' knocked over a cup full of punch. It landed of the floor with a splash, the red liqiud flowing everywhere. "I'm sorry," Ashton said without much care.

"It's alright," Alan insisted, kneeling down to the floor, "I didn't really want punch, so I'm fine." Alan grabbed napkins and began to mop up the sticky mess. Ashton took his chance and dumped the contents of his flask into the second cup of punch that Alan had poured.

"Let me get that," Ashton ordered, "you should go join your friends." Alan looked suspiciously at Ashton, the white-haired Landers boy was never this nice. Instead of making a big deal, Alan simply picked up the cup of punch and walked back to Eric. Ashton smirked as he watched Alan return to Eric and William, handing Eric the glass. He observed intently as Eric took a gulp of his drink/ 'Mission accomplished', he thought.

Ashton cleaned up the floor after tucking the metal flask back into his pocket. Then he left the party with a Cheshire Grin on his face. He had spiked Eric's drink with vodka. Ashton laughed loudly, he had gotten his payback on Eric. Eric had humiliated Ashton when he saved Alan from Ashton and his thugs a few weeks back, now he finally had avenged himself.

"Hey, Alan!" Eric slurred, "did I ever say...HIC...how cute those...HIC... ears were on you?...HIC!" Alan looked oddly at Eric, his strange new speech pattern and occasional hiccups made him skeptical.

"William," Alan began, "I don't think Eric's alright. He's acting strange." William nodded.

"I think he's not feeling well," William said. Then he paused to think, leaned over, and smelled Eric's breath. "What has he been drinking?!" he asked, shocked.

"He only had punch," Alan insisted. Eric began slurring nonsense and staggering to Alan. Then he suddenly slumped over and fell onto Alan. Quickly, Alan caught Eric, struggling to hold him up.

"Well then," William said, disbelieving, "you might want to get him home. Someone must have spiked his drink or something." Alan nodded in agreement and began to drag Eric out his car.

Eric would, under normal circumstances, never let Alan drive his car. His car was his baby. Alan sighed and dug Eric's keys out of his pocket before tossing the blonde in the back seats. It was going to be a long night. Eric lived in the same dorm room as Alan, and the dorm-master prohibited anyone that even seemed under the influence from entering the dorm.

Alan rubbed his forehead, hoping everything would be alright by the next morning.

The next day at school, both Alan and Eric were gone. Alan usually never missed school. He was always getting good grades and on time, too. While Eric always missed a day or two every month, Alan faithfully went to school and it caught his friends by surprise that he was missing.

"Where are they?!" Grell yelled, worried. Ronnie and William both plugged their ears and winced. This had been the fifth time this morning. She wouldn't give it a rest. Grell had decided that she wouldn't quit bugging them until they called Alan and Eric. "They could be dead!" She squealed, "or kidnapped, or forced into a part time job, or they could have joined a street gang! Or they could be skipping for a date!"

"Cool down Grell," William said. "I've explained the situation countless times already! And I doubt they're on a date, Eric's dating Remi, remember?" Grell twiddled her thumbs around. She stuck out her bottom lip and faked a tear.

"Why can't you just make sure," she whined. "I need to know that they're alright!"

"Fine!" Ronnie yelped back, "I will call them! Just please give it a rest with the vocals, and the puppy-dog eyes!" Grell blinked and laughed at him. That was what she wanted to hear, she adored getting what she wanted. Grell giggled and hopped up and down. William sighed and rubbed his head, distressed.

Ronnie whipped out his cell phone and rung up Alan and waited for the dial tone. He waited for about five, six, seven, then eight seconds. The answering machine told Ronnie to leave his name and number after the tone.

In return, Ronnie growled and hung up. He redialed with speed and accuracy. No one would ever dare say Ronnie could't text or dial fast. He could type faster than anyone in the school with a whopping 76 words per minute.

The dial tone came on again and this time Alan picked up. Eric could be heard coughing in the background, along with the faint sound of Eric moaning about a headache.

"Hey, what's up, Alan?" Ronnie asked. He acted like he had called Alan to ask about the weather.

"Eric's really sick!" Alan wailed. He sounded desperate for assistance.

"Yep. That's what happens when you drink hard liquor for the first time," Ronnie said bluntly. William had already told him about Eric's drink getting spiked. Grell cocked an eyebrow, curious as how Ronnie would know that

"What do I do?!" Alan cried hysterically. He was literally sobbing into the phone.

"Just be there for him," Ronnie ordered. Alan hung up to join Eric. Ronnie smirked and slipped his phone into his pocket. "See, Grell? They're fine."

Grell rolled her eyes and walked off to class. "That is, if you consider hangovers 'fine'," Grell said walking of to her next class.

Ronnie and William shrugged as they watched their red-haired friend storm away and proceeded walked to their lockers. "Do you think they'll be alright?" William asked as he swung his locker door open. "I mean, Eric looked like crap last night."

"Not sure," Ronnie admitted, "but with Alan there, he should be fine."

Alan rushed to Eric's side with a bucket. His friend shuddered as he threw up once again, into the old mop bucket. Eric was on the floor by his bed with his head in the bucket. Alan slowly rubbed Eric's back as he coughed. Eric tried to stand up and fell into the bed, holding his head. Alan tucked Eric under the covers and shut the lights off.

Alan drug the bucket of puke into the bathroom and dumped it down the toilet. He rinsed it out in the bath tub. Then he filled a water basin with hot water and grabbed a wash cloth. Alan made his way back to Eric.

"Alan," Eric croaked, "you should be at school." Alan ignored him and sat the basin down. He dipped the cloth into the water and rung it out. "You shouldn't miss school just because I have a hangover."

"Shut up," Alan ordered as he dabbed Eric's face with the wash cloth. Eric smiled a little and opened his eyes. Then he saw a smidgen of light and immediately closed them.

Alan continued to meticulously scrub Eric's face, hands, and arms. Then he tossed the cloth back into the basin and took it back to the bathroom. Alan could take care of dumping, washing, and cleaning the basin and cloth later.

He walked into the tiny 'kitchen' in his and Eric's dorm room. The 'kitchen' was more like a cupboard, a toaster, a waffle iron, a tiny refrigerator, and a microwave. Alan dug through the cupboard and grabbed bread, Campbell's on-the-go tomato soup, and a tub of butter.

"How do I make this?" Alan mused while holding the soup. He shrugged and popped it into the microwave. Alan tossed two pieces of bread in the toaster and then left to check on Eric.

Eric was sleeping with his back to Alan. His color had returned, and he no longer appeared pasty. Alan smiled at Eric's sleeping form and slowly tip toed up to him. He slowly leaned over his friend to see if he was really asleep. Eric's eyes were shut and he was breathing in a steady pattern. Alan smiled a little as he pecked his friend lightly on the cheek.

Then he sniffed the air, Alan could smell smoke and he knew something was burning. He rushed back to the kitchen in a flurry. As he ran off, though, Eric smiling to himself.

"Dang it!" Alan yelled as he surveyed the toast. Both pieces were burnt beyond recognition, and crumpled to pieces at the slightest touch. The tomato soup, luckily, was somewhat edible. Alan put the soup into a larger bowl, placed the 'toast' onto a plate and carried them to Eric's room. He set them down on a night stand and rushed to get a spoon.

When Alan returned, Eric was sitting up in bed. Alan smiled, "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah," Eric nodded, "I could eat a horse right now!" Alan laughed at him. "But I'm not feeling well enough to hold a spoon," Eric said slyly. Hopefully Alan would pity him enough to feed him.

"I suppose if your still not well, then I could do it," Alan said, completely unaware that Eric had lied about the spoon thing. Alan jumped up on the bed and reach over to pick up the bowl of soup. He spooned out a little bit of the red tomato soup and slowly blew on it to cool it off.

"It's not like it'll burn me," Eric said, rolling his eyes. Alan blushed and shoved the spoon in Eric's mouth. Eric gagged as the spoon was shoved down his throat. Alan pulled the spoon back out while stuttering apologies.

"Oh my gosh, Eric, I am so absolutely sorry, I didn't mean to choke you I'm sorry, sorry, sorry!" Even Eric could barely make out Alan's repeated apologies. He chuckled at Alan and opened his mouth for another spoonful of soup.

Alan quit stuttering and obediently fed Eric more soup. They silently finished the bowl of soup and Alan began to go back to the kitchen.

"Wait," Eric said, "what's on the plate?" He motioned to the plate with the burnt toast on it.

"Well, um," Alan blushed, "I tried to make you toast. It didn't turn out well."

"It can't be that bad," Eric insisted, "I'll eat it." Alan smiled and handed Eric a piece of the charred toast. Eric bit into it slowly.

"It's really bad!" Alan burst out, crying. "I'm sorry it's so terrible!"

Eric smiled softly at Alan, then choked on the toast. It really was awful. "No it's not that ba- Nevermind, it needs some work."

Alan began to tear. He didn't mean for the toast to be bad. Alan had just wanted to make something for Eric. "I guess I can teach you how to cook," Eric said placing the leftover toast on the plate. He jumped out of the bed and set the bowl and plate on the night stand again. Eric picked Alan up and carried him to the kitchen. "Now let's go show you how to work a toaster!"

Alan quit crying and snuggled up to Eric, then he frowned. "Eric, weren't you to sick to even pick up a spoon."

"Err..." Eric silently cursed himself, "uh... I got better?" He tried to sound convincing.

"How long have you been better?" Alan asked curiously, blushing.

"Since the headache went away," Eric said.

"Were you awake the entire time?!"

"Yeah," Eric said smiling, chuckling under his breath. He had even been awake when the brunette kissed him on the cheek. Alan, realizing this, blushed and hid his face in Eric's white nightshirt. He would never live this one down.

"Eric, I am so sorry for giving you that, um, ah..." Alan stuttered. "that kiss." he said, gulping down his fear. He looked up to Eric, his body shivering with fear. He hoped that he hadn't embarrassed himself in front of his best friend.

"Hey, it's okay," Eric comforted, noticing that Alan was nervous. "I know that you only mean well, that you're only looked after me. Thanks for that," He said, adding a kiss to Alan's forehead.


	13. Alan's Birthday

_**I hope you enjoyed that Eric and Alan ship we sailed in the **__**last chapter! We sure did! Once again this is on wattpad, and enjoy! We love to write and love it when you guys read this, so for those of you still reading this story at chapter 13- Thank You! Readers are what keep us writing! Thanks again and enjoy!**_

**William's POV**

It was seventh period when I got the note. I was nearly ready to doze off in Mr. Tanaka's math class, but my head kept snapping back upright, refusing to give me the sleep I so wanted. When I was sure that I had finally given into the rest, I felt something slid into my lap. I peeked down, trying to avoid getting anyone's attention. It was nothing fancy, a folded up piece of notebook paper. I unfolded it carefully, attempting to keep it from crinkling. I opened it up and recognized the handwriting, every word gracefully written in red ink. It was a note from Grell.

_Eric told me that today's Alan's birthday! He invited you, me, and Ronnie to come over to he and Alan's apartment. I was thinking that since Alan will be staying after school a little longer for band, maybe you could come over to my house after school and help make a cake? Please?_

I smiled at the little note. Looking around to make sure nobody was watching me, expecially Tanaka, I slipped my notebook and a pen off of my desk and into my lap to form my reply.

_I think that sounds great,_ I wrote back, _I can't wait._

I folded the paper back up and handed it back to Grell. I watched as her green eyes darted across the paper, reading my reply with a huge grin on her face. She looked over at me and flashed me a thumbs-up before returning to her math. I felt myself smiling too as I went back to my work, I already had the feeling that it was going to be a great night.

After school, Ronnie, Grell and I all piled into her little red car. We drove through our regular route, and, as usual, dropped Ronnie off at his house. I twisted around to I could wave to him, and in reply he flashed me a thumbs up and a wink, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. I laughed at the crazy ginger-blonde that I call my best friend as I turned back around in my seat. I could've sworn I heard Grell's adorable giggle.

My laughter died down and I began to think to myself. Grell's laugh was really, really adorable. So were her eyes, even without all the makeup she thought was necessary to make them look nice. As was her hair, when she wore it up in a ponytail and let some fringe hang down to frame her sweet face. Her lips were cute, no matter what color of lipstick she wore that day. As I thought of more and more appealing things I loved about Grell, I found myself with the dumbest smile on my face.

I was begining to think I was in love.

Happiness quickly changed into disappointment when I remembered that she was still dating Sebastian. Her obsession with him had died down and she hadn't talked about him in so long, I almost began to get the impression that they broke up. I shook my head, I couldn't allow myself to think like that. She's happy, and I want her to be happy. That was good, right?

"Will?" Grell asked, waving her hand in front of my face. I was brought back to reality, I examined my surroundings and came to the conclusion that we had arrived at the Sutcliff home. Grell still sat in the driver's seat, once she had my attention she turned the engine off. "You coming?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," I stuttered. She nodded and opened her car door, exiting the vehicle as I did the same.

"You were pretty quiet on the ride today," Grell noted as she pulled out her house keys, unlocking the front door to their house. "Was there something on you mind?"

"Oh, it was nothing," I lied.

Grell jiggled the key, which had gotten lodged in the keyhole, in a frustated attempt to free it. Finally, the key finally released and the door unlatched. Grell twisted the doorknob, pushing the stained wood door open. We both walked inside, and Grell shut the door behind her, locking it and forcing the key into her pocket. "You know that you can talk to me about anything, right?" she asked, looking at me with her green eyes. "I mean, that is what friends are for."

"Really, it was nothing," I gulped. I needed a cover, and fast. I couldn't tell her my feelings while she was still in a relationship - I still probably couldn't if she wasn't. "I was just thinking about that homework assignment Landers gave us this morning."

Some cover. She knows that I'm fine with homework. I doubted she'd buy it.

"Ugh, my gosh, yes," Grell groaned. To my surprise, she wasn't suspicious about my lie. I doubt she hadn't even considered questioning it. "Don't remind me about it, I wanna just totally forget about it until tomorrow," she laughed that beautiful laugh of hers, and I found myself smiling like a moron.

"Same here," I replied, running a hand though my hair nervously. "So, should we get started on that cake?" I asked.

"Ooh! Yes, absolutely!" Grell squealed. She rushed into the kitchen and I followed her in. Their kitchen was decorated simply in black and white, with dashes over red here, there, and on every whipped out her phone and checked her messages quickly. "Okay, so Eric said to be there at about five-thirty... think that's even enough time to make a cake?" she asked, biting her lip.

I shrugged, looking over at the clock on the stove. "Well, it's only three forty-five, I think we can handle this. I think you may have forgotten how well we worked together in the kitchen during home-ec in our Freshmen year." I quipped, elbowing her in her side, which caused her to giggle.

"You're right, I have. We made some pretty mean brownies back then." She laughed along, nudging me back. "Okay, so Eric told me that Alan likes chocolate cake... I was thinking we could ice it with some vanilla frosting and then use some red decorative icing to spell out 'Happy Birthday Alan', what do you think?"

"You and your red," I chuckled. "I think that's a great idea, let's get started."

About an hour and a half later, Grell and I's glorious chocolate cake was baked and finally cool enough to allow us to decorate it. She began icing the top with the white frosting we had whipped up while our cake was in the oven, and I was sent out to find the red icing. I had been in the Sutcliff family's well-organized kitchen so often I had the location of ingredients and supplies memorized about as well as the ones in my own home. The cabinet to the right on the fridge was where they kept all the cake supplies. Knowing Grell, she had stocked up on red icing and it wouldn't be hard to find.

It took about five seconds of rummaging aroung in the icing section before I pulled out a tube of the icing. I carried it back over to where Grell was working on our cake, trying to twist the cap off. "You got it?" Grell asked, peeking over her shoulder at me.

"Yeah," I grunted, pulling on the cap, "I found it, it's just that... this darn cap... won't come-"

I didn't even have to finish the statement before the tube defied my words. The cap flew off and hit me in the cheek, followed by an explosion of red frosting to the face. I stood still as a statue for a moment, baffled by what had just happened. I could her Grell snickering under her breath, trying to refrain from bursting into a fit of laughter. Soon after, she failed and containing herself and fell to the floor, pointing at me icing-covered face and laughing hysterically. "You need some help, Will?"

I grimaced, but yet I couldn't help but laugh too. It was infectious. "You think this is funny?!"

"No," Grell stated, her laughter abrupted stopping. "I think it's hilarious!"

"Oh, yeah?" I asked her between laughs. "What about this?" I aimed the bottle up-close to her nose and squeezed, leaving a little dollop of red on her nose.

She gasped, looking cross-eyed down at her nose and backing away from me in mock-horror. "You monster!" she joked, standing back up and wiping the icing off of her nose with her index finger, which she quickly licked off of it with her tongue. "You go wash your face off and I'll handle the cake, alright?"

Soon after a short drive to Eric and Alan's dorm room, I found myself hiding behind the couch in the dark, waiting for Alan to arrive home to jump out and surprise him. I thankfully had time to wash the mess of icing off of my face, and Grell had put the finishing touches on our cake. Everything was set up perfectly to celebrate our friend's brithday.

I heard the jangling of keys, the creak of the front door and soon after, the slam of it. I looked over my shoulder at Eric, who held up a finger and signalled me to stay silent. "Eric?" Alan's voice called out., and the lights flickered on. "I'm home, where are you?" I heard him sigh and groan, and I felt him flop onto the couch Eric and I hid behind. "He better not be out tonight, I swear."

Eric grinned and nodded excitedly. I knew exactly what to do next. Together, we jumped up behind Alan. "Surprise!" he shouted.

Alan let out a scream. He fell off of the couch from the sudden surprise, he sat on the floor, holidng his chest and breathing hard as he stared up at us in fear. He quickly recomposed himself and stood up, recognizing who it was. "Oh..." he sighed. "It's just you guys... what's all this for?"

"You remember what day it is, right?" Eric asked, walking around the couch and over to Alan, wrapping an arm around his brunette best friend.

"Um, November Fourteenth?" Alan asked, confused. He looked from Eric to me, still unaware of what was going on.

"Try your birthday!" Ronnie shouted, jumping out from the doorway to their kitchen.

"Happy Seventeeth Birthday, Alan!" Grell exclaimed, following Ronnie out of the kitchen with the chocolate cake in hand.

"Aw, you guys!" Alan said, his eyes darting to the four of us. "You didn't have to do this for me!"

"Of course we did!" Ronnie stated, joining Alan on his other side and patting his back. "Now, I believe Grell and Will took some time out of their afternoon to make you some cake. And let me just say, I don't wanna see it go to waste, so you're going to eat it and love it."

"Okay, I will, I will," Alan laughed as Grell sat the cake pan down on the coffee table, pulling out a knife and cutting the chocolate delecacy we had worked so hard on. We ate it off of paper plates with plastic forks. Not the finest way, but it was perfect for what we needed - just a little something to help Alan celebrate. See, this was a lot more his speed than Ronnie's parties. It was nice and secluded, not too loud, and it was just him and a few close friends.

"This is amazing," Ronnie mumbled through a mouthful of cake. He leaned over and looked at Grell, pointing at what was left of his cake slice with his fork. "You need to teach Remi how to make this, it's amazing."

"It's WikiHow," Grell corrected, pointing her fork at Ronnie. "And why can't you make it yourself?"

Ronnie sat his plate and fork down of the coffee table and leaned back in his seat on the couch, still looking over at Grell. "Please, I think we all know that Ronald Knox recieved and F in Home-Ec."

"And Math," Grell added. "And Science, and History."

"Hey!" Ronnie shouted, bolting upright. "Excuse you, but I got a C in History last year, thank you very much!"

From over on another couch, Alan sat on Eric's lap, the two of them laughing their heads off at the scene they were witnessing between Grell and Ronnie. I even had to admit, it was pretty funny how they went back and forth. But soon after, Alan's laughing morphed into coughing, then into wheezing and panting for breath. We all knew what it was, it was yet another attack due to The Thorns of Death. Grell and Ronnie even stopped their bickering to rush to Alan's side. I stood up from my seat, but Eric quickly motioned me back down. 'He hates the attention,' he mouthed, and I quickly nodded in understanding.

"I... I'm fine, guys," Alan said. We all knew he was lying, and just for our sake. Although we had witnessed many attacks over the course of the past couple of months, it always scared us when one came up. We couldn't help but freak out, this disease had the possibility of killing him. And with attacks becoming worse and worse, it was almost natural for us to worry about him. "I'll... I'll be okay..."

Without missing a beat, Eric picked Alan up in his arms and set him down on the couch. Alan tried to sit up on is own, but Eric forced him to lie back down. "You're not going anywhere, you need your rest."

Alan rolled his eyes and attempted to sit up against his friend's will. "Eric, I'm alright." he said, followed by a fit of coughs. "Okay, maybe not completely alright."

Eric sighed and stood back up, shaking his head. "Alan, I have no idea what to do with you. I'm just thankful that you're getting that operation over winter break and we won't ever have to deal with this again."

Just as soon as the attack had come, it had vanished. Alan sat up in the couch, running a hand through his hair. "Me too." he sighed. "But I'm not gonna let a stupid attack ruin this. Someone hand me another slice of cake!" He shouted, laughing and smiling again.

I sure hoped that nothing would go wrong in that operation.


	14. Thanksgiving Friend-zoned

_**Hello! Sorry about all of the late updates! So I'll make this note snappy. This story is also in wattpad under the co-writer's page. (Iamcalifornia) happy reading!**_

"Will! Wake up!" My mother was still yelling for me to get up. I hid underneath my covers and relished in their warmth. It was Thanksgiving and all I wanted to do was sleep in. I has no desire to leave the comfort of my room, just to see my annoying cousins.

"Will, if you don't get your butt down here, don't think I won't send your cousins up there!" I jumped out of my bed immediately. My cousins were two obnoxious twins, still in grade school, that insisted on following me everywhere. Any holiday with them around was dreadful.

"I'm up!" I yelled. Rushing to grab an outfit, I ran to hide in my closet. I had made it just in time, because my two cousins had just ran into my room. I hurried to get dressed in my cramped closet, then waited for them to leave.

"William!" They said in unison. I held my breath as they passed the closet door. Just then I felt something climb on my foot. I yelled and jumped out of my closet.

"Dang it!" I yelled. The thing that had climbed on my foot, was none other than Artemis. That stupid cat had caused me to get discovered.

"Look who finally came out of the closet, James," the first pest said laughing. James was the smaller twin, and his brother, Ethan, was the larger and meaner of the two.

"Shut up and get out of my room," I ordered, pointing to the door and attempting to look intimidating. They protested loudly and I finally couldn't take there whines. "I'm leaving." I barged out of my room and hustled to the kitchen where my mom was cooking.

"Hey honey," Mom smiled as I kissed her cheek, "glad you're finally up."

"Could I invite Eric and Alan to have Thanksgiving with us? Neither of their parents could make it to town."

"Sure thing, Will," Mom agreed, "I couldn't bear the thought of them being alone on Thanksgiving, that'd be awful."

"Thanks Mom, I'll be back in a little while." I ran out to the door and Mom interrupted my exit.

"Take a jacket with you, William! I don't want you getting a cold!" I sighed and grabbed a brown windbreaker. That should be enough to keep the cold out.

I began the slightly long walk to Eric and Alan's dorm. It was always a boring walk with nothing to see. I sighed and kicked a rock a few feet in front of me. I kicked the same rock for about two blocks before I just quit. Then I tried to count how many birds I saw flying South. I lost track after 23. When I finally got to the dorm I rapped impatiently on the door. No one answered so I took the liberty of walking in. I heard Eric and Alan talking, so I paused to hear what they were saying.

"See Alan?"

"Oh! I get it! If you crack the eggs in a separate bowl, you can keep from getting egg shells in the mixture!"

"Hey, Alan, you got some sugar on your face."

"Where?"

"Right there!" Eric yelled and I peeked to see him toss some sugar at Alan. Alan retaliated by tossing flour in Eric's face. Then he ran to the other side of the room. Eric chased him and picked him up.

I was debating whether or not to interrupt. I then decided to go ahead and walk into the 'kitchen'. "Hey guys," I said awkwardly.

"Oh, hey," Eric sounded like he wanted to strangle me for interrupting his cute moment with Alan. Speaking of Alan, he was blushing furiously in Eric arms.

Grell would kill to see this scene play out. She is such a fangirl sometimes. I smiled at the thought of Grell, she was always so cute in a clutzy way. I must have been really drifting off into space. "What's with the smile William?" Alan asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing really," I stuttered. I began to turn red in embarrassment. I couldn't tell them that I had been daydreaming about my red-head friend.

"So," Eric inquired, "what are you even doing here? It's Thanksgiving, shouldn't you be at home with your family?" He set Alan and leaned back on the wall that was behind him.

"I wanted to invite you over for Thanksgiving Diner," I said plainly.

Alan's eyes lit up and he smiled widely. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," I said nodding. "So, you guys gonna come?" Eric looked at Alan, who nodded.

"Sure! Of course we'll come over!" Alan said hopping up and down.

"Can we finish baking our cake first?" Eric asked. He motioned the the mixing bowl containing lumpy cake batter.

"Where are you even going to bake that at?" I asked. They didn't have an oven. Unless they were hiding it in a false wall.

"Oh," Alan said, "the dorm master gave us permission to use the oven in the dorm dining hall."

I waited while Eric taught Alan how to bake the cake. He would patiently wait for Alan to measure the ingredients, then help Alan incorporate them in the batter. I quietly pulled out my cell phone and took some pictures of the cute scene. Grell would undoubtedly thank me later for this. I then once again drifted off into space, thinking about Grell.

"Hey William, we're ready to go bake it now." I looked up to see Alan holding a cake pan full of batter.

"Oh, okay," I said. I followed them into the dining hall and waited for them to finish baking the cake. They finished about half an hour later and we walked over to my house.

My mom greeted us with a wide smile. Alan offered the cake up as his contribution to the meal. Mom thanked him and Eric with great enthusiasm. She mentioned how amazing it looked, and said that she couldn't wait to taste it.

By the time we had gotten to my house, it was also time to eat. My cousins, James and Ethan, had settled down some and were already in a deep conversation with Alan. Eric and I talked to my father about the school's new policy. We were no longer allowed to leave school campus during lunch hour. My father agreed with us that the policy was, quite frankly, stupid.

When we finished the meal, Alan and Eric insisted on helping my mother with dishes. I reluctantly joined them. We had a ball throwing soap suds at each other. It was the most fun I'd had in a while. We got the dishes done in no time and began to talk in the living room.

I stopped my conversation with dad when my phone went off. It was Ronnie.

"Hey man," Ronnie greeted.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Ronnie."

"You too. Hey, are you free right now?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You want to take Grell over some pie and turkey with me? Y'know, vegetarian parents and all."

"Sure thing. Eric, Alan, and I will be over in a minute or two."

I hung up and asked Eric and Alan if they wanted to join me. They agreed and we walked over to Ronnie's house. He had already prepared a basket of goodies to give to Grell. So with that, we set off.

"How are we going to get this to her?" Alan asked. Ronnie and I smirked at each other. We were almost to Grell's house, so we'd show him when we got there.

"You see," I explained when we were at the house beside Grell's, "there's this tree." I pointed to the tree by Grell's window and Ronnie gasped.

"Crap!" Ronnie whisper shouted, "Someone beat us to it!" Eric, Alan, Ronnie, and I strained our eyes to see the person that had beat us, it was Sebastian. He was tossing rocks softly at Grell's window.

Grell opened the window with a giggle and I gritted my teeth in anger. Why was she so into Sebastian? What was I doing wrong? "Ronnie, go get your binoculars," Eric ordered, "we'll wait here."

Ronnie trotted off. I watched Sebastian scale the tree by Grell's window with ease. In his hand he carried a small basket. I leaned closer to see, but they were to far away. I looked around for anything to give me a better view. I saw a tree in Grell's neighbors' yard. I high-tailed it for the tree.

Scaling the tree, I cautiously wiggled onto a stretched out limb. Eric and Alan followed me and climbed the tree with equal grace and speed. I heard a noise and looked down to see Ronnie carrying a pair of binoculars. He couldn't see me, so I tossed a branch down at him.

"Hey," I hissed. Ronnie glanced up and nodded. He shimmied up the tree and got on the branch just above me. We then turned our attention to Grell and Sebastian. "What are they doing Ronnie?" I asked.

"It looks like Sebastian brought Grell chocolate-covered strawberries," Ronnie said groaning.

"Seriously?" Eric laughed. Alan elbowed him harshly.

"I think that was cute. It was a sweet sentiment." Alan stated.

"What are then doing now?' I asked Ronnie.

"It looks like he's feeding them to her. Now they're kissing, no wait- he's just feeding her a strawberry... with his mouth."

"Sounds like he's trying to be a mama bird regurgitating a worm or something," Alan said bluntly.

"I'm sure that classifies as a kiss," Eric argued.

"No! Now they're kissing," Ronnie assured.

"Give me those binoculars!' I ordered. Ronnie obeyed and I looked through them. Sure enough Sebastian was all over Grell. He was practically mauling her. I growled angrily, he had absolutely no right to kiss my Grell. "Ronnie, where are your Nerf Guns?"

"I think I sold them to that kid on Elm Street," Ronnie thought.

"I have a shotgun stored in a closet," Eric offered.

"Isn't that against dorm policy?" I asked. The rules at the dorm were really strict.

"Who said it was approved by the dorm master," Eric smirked. I smirked along with him - killing Sebastian sounded really appealing right now, as awful as it was, too.

"Guys," Alan interrupted, "if Grell's happy, then we shouldn't get involved. Her happiness comes before these stupid rivalries."

"She deserves better than him!" Ronnie, Eric, and I all yelled. We accidentally yelled too loud. Sebastian stopped 'kissing' Grell to look out the window. He pointed to us and Grell walked over to see us too. We were caught.

"William T. Spears!" Grell yelled opening the window. She was definitely not happy. I jumped out of the tree and scaled the other tree outside her window. I hopped through the window gracefully and landed in her room.

Grell smiled at Sebastian and drug me into her bathroom by the ear. I winced at the slight pain. She slammed the door shut and locked it. "What the heck were you doing spying on me?" she hissed.

"We were planning to bring you something to eat," I said. She sighed at me and rubbed her head.

"You could have left when you saw Sebastian," she glared at me.

"No I couldn't have!" I said. "And do you want to know why?" She nodded slowly. I pulled her close to me and kissed her. At first she struggled, then she leaned into the kiss. I heard a little clicking sound but didn't bother to acknowledge it. A minute later the door flew open and Sebastian rushed in, separating Grell and I. He pulled Grell over to him and shoved me into the bathtub. I growled and threw him off of me.

"Hands off of my girl," Sebastian said, his red eyes burning.

"You don't own Grell, no one does!" I shot back. She definitely deserved better than this clown she dared to call a boyfriend.

"William," Grell said stepping forward, "I hate to tell you this but, we're only friends." I winced at her words and nodded.

"I'lll accept that for now, but I promise you Grell, I won't give up." I stalked towards her window and jumped out. I grabbed a tree branch as I fell and used it to slow my descent to the ground.

"So how did it go?' Ronnie asked. He, Alan, and Eric had met me at the ground.

"She said I'm just a friend," I said angrily. Ronnie and Eric busted out laughing.

"Ha!" Ronnie laughed. Then Eric joined him in the next painful word, "Friendzoned!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Alan asked. We all looked at him funny. "If you guys are friends, aren't you one step closer to being her boyfriend?"

Ronnie and Eric laughed again. "I'll explain it to you when we get home," Eric promised.

Then we walked home in defeat. Sebastian had won again, but something wasn't right about him. I would find that something and make Grell realize what a jerk he is, no matter how long that took.


	15. Shirtless Shopping Skills

**I am so wowed by iamcalifornia, she had this ready to go less than a day after the last chapter! I could just hug her! Anyhow, this is also on wattpad- enjoy!**

I shivered against the cold December air. I still couldn't believe I made the dumb idea to walk to the mall rather than to ask Grell for a ride. But honestly, since out little 'incident' at Thanksgiving, she had seemed to distance herself from me. I mentalled hated myself for kissing her while she was dating Sebastian, it was a huge jerk move. Still, I couldn't help myself around her.

"So, guys, what're we looking for?" Ronnie asked, rubbing his hands together as we walked. He and Alan had decided to join me to go Christmas shopping after school. Grell refused to go, either she had play practice-or she was still mad. Eric couldn't attend either, he had been dosed with double-detention for giving Mr. Landers lip. "Anything in particular?"

"Well, I wanted to look for something for Eric," Alan stated shyly, a puff of breath following out of his lips. "But honestly, I don't even know where to start finding something he'd like! I'd feel terrible if I got something he wouldn't even want!"

Ronnie nodded in agreement, looking over to me. I could tell that his glasses were starting to fog up from the cold, all of ours were. "What about you, Will? Something you're trying to find?"

I chuckled, he sounded like a desperate salesman. "I don't know. I was thinking about looking for soemthing to get me back on Grell's good graces, something I could get so that she wouldn't be mad at me anymore. I can't stand her being upset with me."

"Well, you did kind of make out with her in the bathroom when Sebastian was over," Ronnie smirked evilly. "Bit of a d-"

"That's enough, Ronnie." Alan said sharply, covering Ronnie's mouth with his glove. "He probably feels bad enough, you don't need to remind him."

"Right," Ronnie sighed, running a hand through his ginger-blonde hair. "Sorry, Will."

"No, you're right. It was a stupid thing for me to do," I agreed, shaking my head. "I just... I just can't get her out of my head. Everything reminds me of her, and it's horrible because I know she only thinks of me as a friend and I'll never have her."

"Now, I wouldn't say that," Ronnie quipped, waving his finger around in the air. "I've dated some chicks from over at South Demon, and from their reports, he's a bit of a player. Been with quite a few girls from over there, and he almost ends up dumping them for someone else."

I cocked my eyebrow at his statement, curious. "Didn't you dump most of those girls, too?"

Ronnie's eyes went wide and his face flushed, turning away from me as I laughed. "I'm just saying, he's probably gonna break up with her for someone else."

"Dont' say that!" Alan scolded, slapping the back of Ronnie's head. "I don't care is Sebastian is a sleaze-ball, I don't wanna see Grell get hurt!"

Ronnie and I exchanged awkward glances, trying to contain our laughter. We couldn't even imagine Alan ever using a word like sleaze-ball, or any kind of insult. That was just who he was, he would never say anything bad about anyone. I suppose that was probably one of the after-effects of living with Eric.

The rest of the walk to the mall was spent in silence as we all shivered. Upon entering the mall I was relieved to be blasted with the indoor heat, so were Alan and Ronnie. Relieved to be out of the cold, I removed my coat and tied around my waist. Sure, I enjoyed the warmth, but I was going to overheat if I kept that thing on.

Ronnie followed my lead, letting out a sigh of pleasure. "This is so much better. So, so much better." He looked over to Alan, who still wore his blue hoodie. I examined it closer, it looked rather big on him, maybe too big. That's when I noticed that it was Eric's hoodie. Ronnie wasn't quite as observant, he gave Alan a questioning look. "Alan, aren't you gonna take your jacket off?"

"Ah, no," Alan answered shyly, looking away as his cheeks turned pink. "I think I'm just gonna keep it on." Ronnie seemed confused as to why Alan chose to wear the jacket inside, but I understood completely - it was a part of Eric. He always wanted to be with Eric, but that wasn't always possible. So he'd borrow some of Eric's things and keep them with him for comfort.

"Okay, okay. Let's get this Christmas shopping thing started!" Ronnie exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "But first, I think we need to hit the food court."

"Food court?" Alan questioned. "Why the food court?"

"I wanted Orange Julius," Ronnie replied shyly.

"Fine, we'll get you a stupid smoothie, you nimrod," I laughed, ruffling up his hair.

We walked past rows among rows of stores, none of which caught our eye. We walked past the large Christmas tree set up in the center of the mall, where the mall-Santa station was set up. There were children lined up outside of it, waiting to go sit on the phony Santa's lap. I smiled, remembering back when I did that with Ronnie and Grell when we were little.

I mentally scolded myself for thinking of Grell again. I was out with my friends, I need to focus on that.

My eyes wandered off to the chocolate store. I took a deep breath, allowing the sweet smell to sink in. Chocolate... Grell loved chocolate.

I groaned and shook my head, stopping in my tracks. Ronnie and Alan continued a few steps before looking back to check on me. Alan pursed his lips, looking at me with concern. "It's Grell, isn't it?"

"It is," I nodded.

Ronnie came up to me and patted my back, shaking his head in dissatisfaction. "You deserve an Orange Julius after all you've been through, man. More than I do."

"I just need to get her off my mind," I shook my head, "Probelm is that everything reminds me of her."

"I doubt Orange Julius does."

"Ronnie, shut up. I don't think he wants a smoothie." Alan scolded, elbowing Ronnie in the gut as he adjusted his beanie. "It's a dude day-"

"Dude day," Ronnie snickered at the little nickname that Alan had given.

Alan rolled his eyes and slapped Ronnie's arm. "Let's just get this idiot a smoothie so he'll shut up about it."

"Agreed," I said, nodding along. Alan and I practically had to drag Ronnie the rest of the way to the food court, where he spent ten minutes just trying to decide what smoothie to get. Somehow, he ended up getting five. One for me, one for Alan, and three for himself.

We sat down at one of the open tables in the court as Ronnie dove into his smoothies. A certain madness could be seen in his eyes as he slurped them down. Once he had finished his second, he sat back in his chair and relaxed. "I haven't had one of those in forever," He sighed, sipping slowly from his third. Without a moment's notice, his green eyes went wide and all the smoothie in his mouth went flying out, all over Alan's face.

"Dude, what the heck was that for?" I protested, staring at him in shock.

"Yeah, I don't think I needed a smoothie shower," Alan added, grabbing a napkin and wiping off his face.

Ronnie held his finger up to his lips, gesturing for us to be quiet. After making sure we were silent and unnoticed, he pointed over my shoulder. Alan and I turned around to see what it was he was so concerned about, and my stomach went sick upon viewing it. A few tables over, Grell sat with Sebastian. I don't know how he did it, but he always came in at the most inappropriate times.

"You think they're on a date?" Alan whisper-asked as we all huddled over the table.

"No, Alan, Sebastian, her boyfriend, is her to help her dominate the world." Ronnie answered sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Of course they're on a date, what are you thinking?!"

"Sorry," Alan apologized, slumping back into his seat.

Ronnie shook his head, taking a sip or his smoothie. Silently, I prayed he wouldn't see anything else that shocked him, I wasn't in the mood for a fruit bath, either. "I can't believe him." He stated angrily. "Grell could do so much better."

"I think we should just get out of here," I stated, standing from my chair. I walked over to the trash can and dropped my empty smoothie cup in it, while Alan and Ronnie followed my lead. "So, where to now?"

"I was thinking of heading over to the GameStop," Alan said, gesturing to the nearby game store. "I think Eric mentioned a Call of Duty game he was looking for, I was thinking of getting that for him. You guys don't have to tag along if you don't want to." he explained.

Ronnie nodded. "Alright, I think Will and I are gonna go over to Hot Topic, see if we can find anything over there."

"We are?" I asked, questioning him.

"We are." he confirmed. "we'll catch up with you later, okay Alan?"

"Okay," he said, smiling. "See you guys!"

Reluctantly, I followed Ronnie into Hot Topic. I knew that place had great stuff, but I wasn't sure if there was anything in there that Grell woud have liked. She'd been spending so much time around Sebastian, she had kind of changed. I felt like I didn't even know her anymore.

"You're thinking of Grell again, aren't you, William?" Ronnie said with a smirk as he trotted back to the band shirts. He picked up a Falling in Reverse one before looking at the pricetag and putting it back, defeated by the cost.

"I am," I answered, looking up at all the shirts on display, none of which caught my eye.

"Why don't you try jewelry?" Ronnie asked. I followed him over to the jeans, where he picked up a few pairs. "Grell loves jewelry."

I nodded, that could possibly work. Then my curiosity got the better of me. "Who's that for?" I asked, pointing to a pair of grey acid-washed skinny jeans in his arms.

"Me!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Who said I couldn't do some shopping for myself while I'm at this?"

I shook my head. "You're gonna be so broke when we're done here."

He gave a simple shrug, paying no attention to my warning. He picked up some more band shirts and followed a storeworker to the back of the store, to the changing room. I laughed under my breath, Ronnie lived, breathed, and bleed this shop. I sauntered over to the jewelry, looking over each piece carefully. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, earings, they had everything. But none of it seemed right for Grell.

"Having trouble there?" Someone asked. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see who it was. It was one of the store girls, looking down at me expectantly. After looking a bit closer, I realized that I knew her. It was Ashlyn Landers, she looked a lot different than she usually did. She wore a loose tank-top, dark skinny jeans, and a purple bandana tied around her white hair. Her makeup was dark, including black lipstick. She looked like a totally different girl.

"Ashlyn?" I asked, just making sure I wasn't confusing her for someone else. "What're you doing here."

"Uh, William, I work here." She said, dangling her button-coated lanyard in my face. "What about you?"

"Doing a bit of Christmas shopping." I said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I thought I saw Ronnie in here earlier." Ashlyn bent down next to me, fiddling with jewelry. "Looking for something for Grell?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered, nodding my head. "I think she's mad at me, I kind of, um, uh..."

"Need to get something to make her like you again?"

"Yep."

"Well, how about this?" she asked, pulling out a necklace. Dangling on the ends of the black chains were silver gems, two red roses made of metal, and a few black crosses. She held it up for me to look at it and handed it to me. "I think this kind of screams Grell, don't you?"

I admired it even closer, a small smile growing on my lips. "This is perfect!" I tried to keep from yelping. "Thank you, Ashlyn."

"No problem," she said, tucking a strand of white hair behind her ear. "Now, I've gotta go help some more customers, see you around." She said, standing from her spot next to me and walking to the back of the store.

After picking up a pair of red skinny jeans for Grell, a The Walking Dead shirt for Eric, and the Falling in Reverse that Ronnie was looking at earlier for himself, I went to look for something for Alan. I knew he liked Doctor Who, but I never really understood any of that. I looked around at some of the stuff they had when Ronnie came up behind me. "Dude, you're not gonna believe what just happened."

"Well, tell me then." I said, turning around to face him.

"I found Alan's present," he said, holding up Tardis beanie and waving it in my face. "He's gonna love this. Okay, but then, when I went to go try stuff on in the changing room, someone walked in on me."

"What?!" I asked, trying to restrain my laughter. "Who?"

"I think it was Ashlyn," he whispered, "I wasn't exactly wearing a shirt. She got all flustered and backed away, babbling a bunch of apologies. I think she... I think she liked it."

"Well," I started, "You've been complaining about not having a girlfriend-"

"That was two months ago!" He protested, elbowing me in the gut.

"I was just gonna say that you might have a chance now."

"Whatever," He said, shaking his head. "Let's just go check out, dude."


	16. McDonalds at Midnight

_**I am so sorry for the long wait on this chapter! Every time I started it, I started yelling Alan's name and crying hysterically. Forgive me please!**_

I woke up at midnight with a killer grumble in my stomach. It's the second day of winter break, and I'm sure not having any problems with it. I attempted to get out of bed, but instead that resulted in literally rolling out of bed and falling on the floor. Unfortunately for my cat, well- I landed on top of her. Artemis yowled in pain and clawed my face, her sharp claws sinking into my skin.

"Stupid cat!" I whisper-shouted, holding my injured cheek as it bleed, "what the heck was that for?!"

If Artemis could talk, I'm pretty sure she would've said, "Idiot human! How do you roll out of a bed that big? Are you just that clumsy?!" But luckily enough for me, my cat can't talk.

I sighed and left my ticked-off cat alone to cool off. I hustled to the kitchen to open the wide expanse of the desert of the refrigerator. Definitely barren, no food to be seen. Exasperated and hungry, I slammed the door shut and called Ronald.

The phone rung for a minute before he picked up, "Hey, what's up Will?"

"Do you want to come to McDonalds with me and grab a bite to eat? Please man, I'm starving!" I was desperate for food of any way, shape, or form. I could even eat asparagus. Wait, never mind, I wouldn't eat asparagus.

"Of course! Does a bear poop in the woods?!" I almost expected him to answer with a yes. Ronnie loves food of all kinds, especially when he doesn't have to cook it.

"Not if they live in a zoo." I said bluntly.

"Don't kill my vibe," he ordered. "I'm going to see if Alan and Eric want to join us. You alright with that?"

"Yeah that's-"

"Or would you rather spend the night with me," then he added slyly, "alone." I could almost imagine him wiggling his eyebrows at me with the last word.

I busted out in laughter at his attempt to fake flirt. "Ronnie, your flirting skills are the reason you don't have a steady girlfriend."

"At least I didn't kiss my crush in the bathroom while her boyfriend stood in the next room," Ronnie shot back. That sentence took me back to Thanksgiving. I still couldn't I had been such a jerk to my best friend.

"Touché," I agreed, "give Eric and Alan a call."

"Sure thing, man," Ronnie said before hanging up. I rushed back to the sanctuary of my room to change. I dug through my clothes to find black jeans, a green t-shirt, and a casual black vest. I'm posed in the mirror as I combed my hair to a certain position.

"My hair is now," I paused for dramatic effect, "flawless!" I rushed over to Ronnie's house to find Eric and Alan already waiting for me to arrive.

"You took long enough," Eric observed. Alan elbowed him in the gut and chided him. I rolled my eyes at them. One of these days they'd realize how compatible they are.

I shook my head. Once again, Grell's fangirl-ism had rubbed off on me.

"We ready to get going?" Ronnie asked, irritated. "Man, it's like 12:30 at night and I am hungry. Let's get a move on, cause them BigMacs are calling my name!" We sighed and followed Ronnie out the back.

"Guys where are you going?" I asked as Eric and Alan walked to their car. "Cars are too high profile. We're taking the bikes." I motioned to three large bikes. A blue one, red one, and a black one.

"But there's only three," Alan said. "How are we gonna do this?"

I sighed and looked at Ronnie. "Do you wanna ride on the handlebars?"

Ronnie shrugged at me. "Only if I have to, you ride a bike like your drunk." He gave me a scared look and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I can ride on Eric's handlebars if he doesn't mind," Alan suggested. Ronnie ran up and hugged Alan, thanking Alan for saving his life. After five or ten minutes of getting Alan situated, we were on our way.

"Are we there yet?" Ronnie asked. He had been whining for the last five minutes and quite frankly, it was starting to annoy me. "Why can't the stupid McDonalds be closer?! This would've been so much faster if we could've taken Eric's car."

"Ronnie," I said, "we've barely been pedaling for five minutes. Also, the McDonalds is right over the next hill." Eric grunted and Ronnie made a noise along the lines of "whoopie" and we all pedaled faster.

We jumped off of our bikes when we hit the McDonald sign and ran in the fast food joint. There was only one other customer in there, just some teenage boy eating a McRib. We walked up to the long counter to order our food. Standing behind the cash register was none other than Ashlyn Landers. "Hey Ashlyn!" I greeted, before looking at her suspiciously "I thought you worked at Hot Topic?"

"I need the money," she said shrugging her white hair off of her shoulder. Ronnie shoved me out of the way to talk to her. If Eric hadn't caught me, I'd have fallen into a ketchup dispenser.

"What do you need money for?" Ronnie asked, worried. Ashlyn looked deep into his eyes for a minute before answering.

"My mom kicked me out of the house," she said looking at the register sadly, "I'm living in an apartment with my little cousin. I need the money for our food expenses, and the rent."

Ronnie looked ready to cry for her. "You can come live with me! You and your cousin!" He offered. "That's terrible!" He cried, "your mother kicked you out!" He slumped to the floor.

"I'm kidding," Ashlyn said flatly, "I'm saving up for a car." Eric, Alan, and I doubled over laughing. Ronnie is such a sucker for sob stories. He jumped up and kicked me in the shin.

"What kind of car is it?" I asked in pain. I kicked Ronnie back and he fell, holding his shin. He whined pathetically as he rolled on the McDonald's floor. I looked down at him, not sure whether to laugh or feel bad for him. Those floors were disgusting.

"A purple bug," she said smiling widly.

"So you're working two jobs for it?" Eric asked. His eyes showed a look of surprise mixed with respect.

"I really want that purple bug!" Ashlynn said. "I'd work three for it if I had the time!"

Ronnie jumped up and glared playfully at me. Then he turned back to Ashlyn and smoothed back his hair. "You can still move in with me," he said in the most seductive voice he could.

"Sorry," she laughed. "But if you'd like to order, that'd be great."

"Give me three BigMacs and a kiss please," Ronnie said smiling.

Ashlyn never lost her cool, "Anything to drink with that?"

"A ," Ronnie said. He smirked to himself. Ashlyn gathered his meal together on a tray and Ronnie smiled. "Aren't you missing something?" I rolled my eyes, I knew he was talking about the kiss.

"Oh ya," Ashlyn realized, "close your eyes and lean forward." Ronnie did as he was told and Ashlyn dug a chocolate Hershey kiss out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it in his mouth. Ronnie jumped back at first and laughed.

"I didn't mean that!" He objected. Ashlyn rolled her eyes and motioned for the next person in line. I ordered a chicken sandwich and French fries. Alan and Eric both ordered a BigMac and got a M&M Flurry to share.

We all sat down at a window seat and talked. Ronnie told us about how he was gonna marry Ashlyn someday. We laughed at him heartily, we knew he was hopeless. "Sorry man," Eric said, "you'll probably end up like William here."

"Friendzoned!" Ronnie and Eric said in unison. They high fived and shared a laugh at my expense. We all had finished our food except for Eric and Alan. They still had a Flurry to split.

"My hands are cold," Alan complained. He had been holding the frozen treat for a while. Eric smiled and took it from Alan. He spooned ice creamed out and held it in front of Alan. Alan smiled and happily slurped down the spoonful of ice cream.

"Well, they're getting along well," Ronnie mouthed to me. I nodded and looked back at the cute scene. Grell would love this scene. Suddenly Alan gasped and started to cough.

"E-e-er-Eric," he choked. He clutched him chest and started to choke profoundly. Eric threw down the spoon and picked up Alan.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Eric yelled. No one made a move, we were all in shock. "Are you deaf?! Now! He's having an attack!" Ronnie and I jumped to make the call.

Less than five minutes later, the ambulance had arrived. Alan face was turning paler by the second. The medics loaded him into the back of their ambulance in under a minute and stopped Eric from getting in too.

"Sorry, family only," they said, pushing him out of the vehicle.

"Screw you," Eric retorted, "we don't have time for this crap!" The medic nodded and let Eric in. Ronnie and I raced for the bikes and attempted to follow the ambulance. We lost sight of it soon and stopped to call Grell.

"Grell," I said.

"What do you want?!" Her voice shouted through the other end as soon as she picked up. I winced, from the sound of her voice, she was still iritated.

"Alan's having an attack!"

"Don't give me that crap William. I am so not in the mood!"

"Do you think he'd lie about it?!" Ronnie yelled into the phone.

She groaned. "I'll meet you at the hospital," she agreed.

Ronnie and I rode the bicycles as fast as we could to the hospital. We jumped off of them and ran into the front doors. We barged to the Emergency Room to see Eric pacing like mad. "Where's Alan?!" Ronnie and I asked in unison.

"They took him back to surgery," Eric said annoyed. "He was scheduled for this surgery the day after tomorrow. But they decided it'd be best to do it tonight."

"The surgery to remove the Thorns of Death?" I asked. Eric nodded as Grell busted through the doors and into the room.

"Is he okay?!" She asked desperately, running a stressed-out hand through her hair.

"He's in surgery right now," we all told her. We paced the floor for half an hour. Then we sat down for the next half of the hour.

"So," Ronnie began awkwardly, "Alan could be dying and we're all out here in a funk."

"What's your point?" Eric growled. Ronnie winced and Eric softened his gaze. "I'm sorry. I'm so stressed out right now. I just need assurance that he's gonna be okay." Eric looked away as he cried softly. I stared at him with wide eyes, none of us had ever seen Eric cry before. We sat in tension for the next hour.

"I'm sorry, Grell," I said quietly.

"For what?" She asked bitterly. She looked at me with ice in her eyes.

"For kissing you," I said. "I should have apologized sooner."

"I really don't care right now," Grell said, turning to stare at the floor as she flipped a strand of hair over her shoulder.

"What's wrong with you?" Ronnie asked.

"I called Sebastian and he said he couldn't make it to the hospital," she said sadly. "He never has time for me anymore. Sebastian's always hanging out with Claude and Hannah. We used to always go see movies, go out to nice resturants, all sorts of cute things couples are supposed to do. Now I never see him!" She began crying. "Now, Alan could be dying! Nothing is going right anymore!"

"He's probably with Claude," Eric muttered. "If you ask me, something up with them."

"Like what?!" Grell asked sobbing. I handed her a box of Kleenexes. She snatched them up and blew her nose.

"Like a relationship," Eric said bluntly.

"You think Sebastian is gay?!" She asked crying.

"It makes sense," Ronnie and I agreed. Upon that awkward note, we went into silent mode for the next hour. All that could be heard in the room was Grell's sniffles. The sun soon began to slowly rise.

"Excuse me," we all looked up to see a man in a white coat. "Are you friends of Alan Humphries?"

"That's us," Eric answered walking up to the man.

"I have news about his surgery." We all jumped up and crowded around the doctor, anxious to hear the news.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Now for the resolution to Alan's surgery! Eric, will your Alan live? You'll find out soon enough my friend. Happy reading! (Also on wattpad.) Thanks iamcalifornia for getting this chapter done! You're the best writing buddy ever!_**

"Excuse me," we all looked up to see a man in a white coat. "Are you friends of Alan Humphries?"

"That's us," Eric answered, walking up to the man.

"I have news about his surgery." We all jumped up and crowded around the doctor, anxious to hear the news. He backed away, he looked slightly uncomfortable that four teenagers had approached him so quickly at the mention of their friend. He gulped, then sighed and smiled at us. "I'm pleased to inform you all that Mister Alan Humphries's surgery was successful. The Thorns of Death have been completely removed from his system."

We all gasped, looking around at each other with excited looks on our faces, similar to those of children on Christmas morning. Well, I suppose it was somewhat of a Christmas present that Alan was cured. Grell couldn't restrain herself and she flung her arms around the doctor, squealing in joy as she hugged him. His face was turning dark purple from lack of blood circulation. Awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her back. He turned his attention to Ronnie, who awkwardly held his hand up for permission to speak. "Sir, are we allowed to visit Alan now?"

"Not yet," the doctor answered as Grell let go of him. He smoothed out his white coat, which had been tampered with during Grell's unexpected hug. "The anesthetic is stil active, but he should be awake and ready for visitation in about an hour. For now, why don't you kids head on over to our cafeteria? It's been a long night."

I nodded, smiling at the doctor. "Alright, thank you, sir. We will." I said, walking down the hall with my friends following me. According to the little signs placed on every corner, we were headed in the right direction to the cafeteria. Soon, we entered the open room, where patients and visitors alike eat meals.

Once the four of us had gotten our meals, we found an empty table to sit at. It almost reminded me how we sat at lunch, except this wasn't school and Alan wasn't with us. Ronald and Eric sat down on one side together, which left Grell to sit with me, as much as she didn't want to. We all ate in silence, until Ronnie decided to break it up. "Man, I'm so glad Alan's surgery went well, aren't you, guys?"

Eric nodded, "Yeah. I'm just glad that we don't have to worry aboout attacks anymore," he said, smiling. "I don't know what we would've done if we couldn't have had this surgery now."

"I agree," Grell added. "I don't even want to think about how bad those would have got if the thorns weren't removed."

Eric sighed, still with a huge grin on his face. "Whatever, it doesn't matter now. They're gone, and he's going to feel so much better when he wakes up. I can't wait to see him."

We all muttered some form of agreement before returning back to our food. We endured another quiet period, before I felt the need to talk again. "Grell, again, I'm sorry." I know that I'd been apologizing a lot while we were waiting for Alan, but I had to do it again. I have my reasons for apologizing.

"I get it, just stop apologizing." she growled, glaring at me through the corner of her eye.

Seeing that she didn't want to talk, I scooted away from her until I was on the end of the bench. "I meant about Sebastian, about the possibility of him... y'know, cheating on you."

"And being gay," Ronald added. I feel bad for her. He boyfriend may really be another guy's girlfriend.

Grell groaned, throwing her head back and covering her face with her hands. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" she groaned, slumping forward. "He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would play around, especially with another guy, you know what I mean?"

"Well, he has been avoiding you lately," Eric said. Grell looked up to him, her lips curling into a frown as her eyes narrowed. I noticed how irritated she was becoming, so I signaled to Eric to cut it out.

"Yeah, and did you see how close they were at my Halloween party?" Apparently, Ronald was oblivious to my warning as well. "I mean, whenever you weren't around, you could just see the temptation in their eyes, they would've been all over each other if you weren't the-"

"Shut up!" Grell screamed, jumping up from the table. We all looked up to her, she looked ready to break down or explode, maybe even both. A cherry-red blush had filled her face, and her eyes welled up with tears. "Just shut up! You're not making this any better!" she shouted at as, before storming out of the room. Everyone in the entire cafeteria had turned their attention to the furious redhead as she left the room.

Eric, Ronald and I all exchanged glances, before I sighed and stood from my seat. "I'm gonna go talk to her."

"What? Dude, no!" Ronald exclaimed, slamming his fist against the table. "When she's acting like this? No way, I won't let you! She'd rip you to shreds, man!"

"He's right," Eric added with a small nod.

"I'm going to see her, whether you like it or not. She needs somebody to be there for her, and I'm going to be that somebody." I said. I walked over to the trash can and threw away the leftovers of my meal before following out the door Grell had exited.

I spent a while scouring the halls for her, but I finally found Grell. She sat in one of the chairs outside the emergency room where Alan had been operated on. She sat with her knees curled up to her chest, burying her face in the fetal position as she cried. She must've heard me coming, because she lifted her head up and glanced over at me before returning back down into her stance.

I sat down in the chair next to her, rubbing my hand up and down her back as she sniffled. "What do you want?" she managed to say between her whimpers.

"You just seemed really upset, I wanted to make sure you were okay."

She sighed, straightening herself out in her chair. Grell leaned into me, over the arm rests. "I'd hate to believe that what Ronald and Eric are saying is true. The Sebastian I know is the guy who stays devoted to me. But what if he isn't?"

I pursed my lips, I wasn't sure if I should tell her that he was a sleaze-ball or not. Shrugging, I decided not to. "To be honest, Grell, I wouldn't know how to tell."

She sighed again, shifting in her chair. "I just want someone who can treat me right."

'I could do that, if only you'd give me a chance,' I thought to myself. I opeed my mouth to tell her that, but was interrupted by footsteps coming down the hall. We both looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ronald and Eric walking toward us, along with the doctor who had told us about Alan. Ronald smiled and waved to us, and we waved back. I looked over to Grell. "Are we okay?"

Grell smiled and nodded, wiping away our tears. "We're okay."

As they passed by, Ronald stopped in front of us. "We're gonna go visit Alan now, you guys wanna come with us?"

"Is that even a question?" Grell asked, laughing a bit. "Of course!"

We hopped up and followed them down the hall, into the recovery rooms in the hospital. We passed through many halls and many numbered doors, until the doctor in front of us stopped. I craned my neck to look at the door. Room 215, underneath the number was a small whiteboard with 'Alan Humpfries' written across it in capital letters. The doctor placed his finger to his lips, signalling us to keep relatively queit. "Now, he's going to be a bit weary and quite weak since his surgery just got done with a couple of hours ago. But, he should be aware enough to make conversation, just not too much physical interaction or loud noises. Understood?"

"No hug?" Eric asked.

"A small one," the doctor permitted. "There shall be nothing more than a hug. Got it?"

"Understood," we all mumbled.

The doctor knocked on the door lightly with his fist. "Mister Humphries, you have visitors. Would you like them to come in?"

"Visitors?" All of our faces lit up as we heard Alan's voice. Sure, it was muffled through the door, but at least we knew he was in there. "Send them in, please." Smiling, the doctor opened to door and let us inside. I muttered a 'thank you' and nodded at him as I passed inside.

"Alan," Eric sighed, rushing to his best friend's bedside. "Oh my god, I'm so glad you're alright!" He hugged Alan gingerly.

"Yeah, I made it." Alan said with a chuckle. I looked him up and down in his hospital bed. He wore one of those hospital gowns that tied in the back and had a few IVs injected in his arm. Although his eyes looked tired and weak, I could tell by the happy look on his face that he was feeling much better. He looked up to us, smiling. "Hey, guys. How long have you been here?"

"We've been here all night, Alan. We were so worried about you." Grell said, sitting down on his bedside. She took his hand in hers, giving him a comforting squeeze.

"Well, you guys don't have anything to worry about anymore," he said. Alan tugged at the hospital gown, pulling it down low enough so we could see his chest. The dark marks under his skin that used to signify the Thorns of Death were now gone. The only thing that tainted his skin now were the stitches that closed up the incision they made. He looked back up, beaming at us with the biggest smile we had ever seen from him. "The only scar you'll be seeing on me anytime soon is this one," he said, pointing to the stitches as he pulled the collar of the gown back up.

"It doesn't matter, it's just a miracle that you're better." Ronald said, leaning against the end of the bed. I stood next to him, we all had surrounded Alan.

"Have you found out when you get out of here yet, Alan?" I asked.

"I think they said the morning of Christmas Eve," Alan answered with a nod.

"Awesome! That means you'll be out in time for my Christmas Eve party!" Ronald exclaimed, punching his fist in the air.

"Ronnie!" Grell gasped, mock-punching him in the arm. "How could you think about your stupid Christmas Eve party at a time like this?!"

"How couldn't I?" He asked, as if it was obvious.

Alan rolled his eyes, trying to keep his laughter to himself. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be up for partying right after this,"

Ronald shrugged, "Alright, your bad decision, man,"

Alan chuckled, shaking his head, "I'll see how I'm feeling when that day rolls around, I'll decide then."

"Thank you!" Ronnie yelped, dancing around the room.

"Ronald Knox!" Eric scolded. He pointed a finger at him like he was a misbehaving child, which honestly, Ronald acted like often. The use of his full name caught the ginger-blonde's attention, stopping dead in his tracks to look at Eric. "What did the doctor tell us right before we came in here? No loud noises or physical interaction past small hug!"

"But this isn't physical interaction with Alan," Ronald added, still frozen in his ridiculous celebratiory position that resembled a phoenix. He didn't dare move until he got Eric's okay, he knew that he would beat him up without a second thought.

"Whatever," Eric groaned. "Just pipe down and behave, okay?" I had to restrain myself from bursting out into laughter, it was funny seeing Eric act like this. It almost reminded me of a too-strict parent scolding their disobedient child.

"You guys," Alan started. "I wanted to thank you, all of you. You've all been so supportive of me throughout this entire time. You have no idea how happy I am now that I don't have to worry about the Thorns of Death anymore. We can do anything we want now that I'm finally on the road to recovery."

Ronald's face lit up "Anything?" We all knew what he had in mind, partying. His brain was on party animal mode all day and every day.

"We'll see," Eric said, pointing his finger at Ronnie again.

Alan laughed, it was great to see him laughing and acting like himself. "I did say anything, didn't I?" he shook his head. "I guess I will, then."


	18. Character Corner!

**We wrote some notes. Maine are in parentheses and hers have Oli: in parentheses. Hope you enjoy this!**

This is a character corner! Where we post fun facts and other stuff about all the characters we use in Shinigami Haken High School. I know this isn't a chapter, but it's fun for us to do! Hopefully this will answer any questions you had regarding the characters in the story. If you have any other questions-don't hesitate to ask them!

(Note that the actual Kuroshitsuji character probably have different fun facts. The fun facts are based on the way we portray them in the story.)

**William T. Spears**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Sparkling Green

Hair: Short, Nutty Brown

Height: 183 cm(6 ft.

**Gender:**

Male! (hehe...)

**Favorite Color:** Any color Grell wears. (Yeah thats probably red)

**Fun Fact:** He has an obsession with My Chemical Romance. After it was introduced to him, he spent his time buying every CD that was ever produced. Unfortunately he still hasn't found I Brought You My Bullets Your Brought Me Your Love. Poor guy, my heart goes out to him. (Oli's note: Same, Will, same. The cheapest I've seen it is $25...)

**Grell Sutcliff**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Sparkling Green

Hair: Long, Flaming Red

Height: 5 ft. 7 in.

**Gender:**

Female

**Favorite Color:** (This is most likely obvious) RED!

**Fun Fact:** (In SHHS) William's cat, Artemis, was named (Grell named her) after a character in the popular book series, Artemis Fowl. Grell had had an obsession with the books and spent her spare time drawing Artemis. Her bedroom walls were covered from 7th to 8th grade in nothing but Artemis pictures. (Oli's note: I still haven't read Artemis Fowl, oops)

**Ronald Knox**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Dazzling Green (Yes there is a difference between dazzling and sparkling.)

Hair: Blonde on the top and black/brown at the base of his neck

Height: 5 ft. 9 in.

**Gender:**

Lady Killer (Male)

**Favorite Color:** Whatever impresses the ladies

**Fun Fact:** Ronnie had his first girlfriend in fifth grade. His first kiss in fifth grade. Funny story is, he accidentally kissed his girlfriend's twin sister. Ya, they moved shortly after the incident. (That must have been really awkward for everyone...I mean-mistaking your girlfriend's twin sister for her, then kissing the sister...) (Oli's note: I wouldn't mind being his girlfriend, ayeee)

**Eric Slingby**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Yellow-Green

Hair: Neat cornrows on one side, falls down in wave on the other, Dirty Blonde.

Height: 6 ft. 2 in.

**Gender:**

Male

**Favorite Color:** Pink (Not even Alan knows that Eric likes pink...)

**Fun Fact:** Despite his bad attitude and serious demeanor, he has a total soft spot for all things cute (Alan). Eric especially loves pandas. He donates the money that he makes to Wildlife Foundations. Not only that, he sometimes volunteers at orphanages around town. (Despite what he seems, Eric is a complete sweetheart.) (Oli's note: I 'awwed' out loud at this one. Officially an Eric fangirl now)

**Alan Humphries**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Yellow-Green

Hair: Fluffy and short, Brown

Height: 5 ft. 5 in.

**Gender:**

Male

**Favorite Color:** Midnight Purple

**Fun Fact:** Alan used to run the cash register for Arby's. He accidentally gave someone twenty dollars too much back for change. Well-he was fired. So he now tries to get jobs babysitting and tutoring kids. (Oli's note: another fun fact, Nat actually tutors kids during our last two periods of the day!)

**Remi Knox**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Dazzling Green

Hair: Identical to Ronnie's only it reaches the middle of her back

Height: 5 ft. 6 in.

**Gender:**

Female

**Favorite Color:** Lime Green

**Fun Fact:** She has an obsession with people's eyes. She believes they are windows to the soul. Eyes show people pain and suffering. Remi kind of stares at people in the eye. It is kind of unnerving at first, but you get used to it. (Oli's note: I came up with this one, hehe!)

**Ashlyn Landers**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Bright Purple

Hair: Waist length white hair

Height: 5 ft. 4 in.

**Gender:**

Female

**Favorite Color:** Anything purple!

**Fun Fact:** Ashlyn adores chocolate. She carries chocolate with her everywhere she goes. She can't be without it. She especially loves Hershey bars with almonds. (Oli's note: That's why she had a Hershey kiss on hand in chapter sixteen!)

**Ashton Landers**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Dark Purple

Hair: Short White

Height: 6 ft.

**Gender:**

Male

**Favorite Color:** White

**Fun Fact:** He bullies Alan because he has a crush on him and doesn't want people to know. Also when he was in middle school he dyed his white hair different colors. Including: Black, Purple, Brown, Blonde, and Maroon. He is cousins with Ashlyn Landers. (Oli's note: To be honest I laughed so freaking hard at "Ashton has a crush on Alan")

**Sebastian Michaelis**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Glowing Red

Hair: Raven Black

Height: 6ft.

**Gender:**

Male

**Favorite Color:** Burgundy

**Fun Fact:** His favorite song is Beautiful, by Christina Aguilera. Don't ask why, we don't understand him either. Also, he has a strawberry fetish. (Oli's note: I'm actually listening to that song for the first time right now and I'm imagining Sebastian singing it... oh my god...)

**Claude Faustus **

**Looks:**

Eyes: Gold

Hair: Black

Height: 6 ft. 1 in.

**Gender:**

Male

**Favorite Color:** Cream

**Fun Fact:** He love penguins! He even named one Berry! Claude also has a thing where he must have his glasses clean to the point of perfection. They can't be dirty! (Oli's note: I drew Claude and Berry one time. He looks very satisfied with the penguin in the drawing...)

**Hannah Anafeloz**

**Looks:**

Eyes: Light Purple

Hair: Shoulder length, white

Height: 5 ft. 6 in.

**Gender:**

Female

**Favorite Color:** Gray

**Fun Fact:** Hannah loves horror films. She attends five libraries so she can check out all the horror movies they own. Also, she hates caterpillars, they scare her to the point of tears. (Oli's note: I can actually see this happening. Especially the caterpillar part)


	19. Eggnog Pong

**I hope you all found the Character Corner helpful in understanding people! Oli (iamcalifornia) and I found it fun to do. Well, here's another chapter for you! Enjoy!**

I fiddled with my tie, redoing it for probably the fiftieth time that night. I didn't know why I had dressed up, it was only Ronald's Christmas Eve party. Yet still, something told me that this called for some degree of classiness. I pulled my shirt out of my slacks, smoothing it out. I tilted my head down, inspecting my shoes. Although I had dressed well, that didn't particularly mean that I'd abandon my Converse.

"William!" My mother called upstairs. I turned to the doorway and peeked my head out far enough to see her at the bottom of the staircase. "Get down here, your cousins just arrived!"

"In a minute, Mom!" I shouted back down, groaning. The last things I wanted to deal with were my younger cousins, James and Ethan. I shook my head and looked down to my bed, where Artemis slept in a curled-up ball. I gave her a soft pet, and she purred in response. I grabed my phone and clicked it on, it read 8:39 PM. I shoved it into my pocket and rushed down the stairs, only to be tackled to the ground by James and Ethan.

"William!" Ethan laughed and he rolled off of me, "We've missed you so much!"

"Yeah!" James added, helping me up off the ground. "Come out of any more closets since Thanksgiving?"

"Looks like his outfit did, it makes him look pretty gay," Ethan said under his breath, causing him and his twin to explode in a fit of laughter as they pointed their fingers at me. I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the comment.

"Haha, very funny, Ethan," I said sarcastically, smacking his arm.

"James, Ethan, you shouldn't go around saying things like that, people get very offended by things like that." My mom scolded, coming up behind me. "I think Will looks very nice this evening," she said with a smile, putting her hands on my shoulders and leaning into me.

"Mom," I groaned, picking her hand up and releasing it from my shoulder.

She chuckled, shaking her head as she stepped away from me. "What're you so dressed up for, anyway?"

"I'm going over to Ronnie's, he's holding a Christmas Eve party," I explained, picking up my presents I had bought a few weeks ago for my friends. It took some time, but I finally positioned them so that I could carry them without dropping any.

"Oh," My mother sighed. She looked hurt. "You're not going to stay here tonight?"

"Mom, it's a Knox party," I pointed out, walking over to the front door. "Don't worry, I'm gonna stay here for tomorrow, I'm not abandoning you completely." I reassured her, swinging the front door open.

"Alright," My mom relented, shaking her head. "Just be back at about eleven. I'm holding you accountable for that, understood?"

"Understood," I said, nodding my head as I exited out the door. "See ya, mom!"

As I turned onto the sidewalk to Ronnie's house, I heard two other voices tell me goodbye.

"Later, gay boy!" Ethan and James shouted, followed by their laughter.

"Go back inside!" I yelled back.

Behind me, I heard the blast of a car horn. I turned around, blinded by the headlights of whoever was following me. I used my free hand to shield my eyes, dimming the brightness slightly. The car, which I was now able to recognize as a pick-up, pulled up to the sidewalk next to me. The passenger side window rolled down, and I saw Alan inside, with Eric as the wheel. "Need a lift?" Alan asked, leaning out of the window.

I smiled, shaking my head. I pulled the back door open and piled inside, dropping the wrapped presents in the seat next to me. "Thanks, guys," I said.

"No problem," Eric said, turning his head to face the road again. "Would've sucked if you had to walk to Ronnie's in the cold and snow," He added as we continued on our way.

"It wouldn't have been that bad," I said with a shrug, relaxing in the seat. "I'm only a few houses down from Ronnie, anyway."

"Still, we wouldn't want you to catch a cold or anything," Alan said as he rolled the window back up. None of us had anything else to talk about, so Alan reached over a twisted a couple of knobs on the radio. Soon, the faint sound of 90s alternative rock took over the silence.

Shortly after that, we had reached the Knox household. Eric helped me carry the gifts inside, along with his own, even though none of the things I had bought were fragile or breakable. Alan held the door open, and we were greeted by none other than Ronald's sister. "Eric!" She squealed, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "I missed you!"

"Remi," Eric said, laughing as a smile reached onto his lips. He lifted his hand up, rubbing the spot on his cheek where his girlfriend just kissed him. "That was sudden, what was that about?"

"Look up, silly," Eric obliged and tilted his head back. Above the door was a piece of mistletoe, hanging from a red ribbon. It was most likely Remi's personal touch. "Merry Christmas, Big Guy," she purred, nuzzling into his chest.

"You too, Babe," He smirked and leaned in, kissing Remi under the mistletoe again. I almost wanted to devise a plan to get Grell under there with me.

I shook my head, there's no way she'd even agree to it. Besides, her stupid boyfriend was probably here. To distract myself, I peeked over to Alan, who looked about as awkward as I felt. "I didn't know they were that close," he whispered to me as he took of his jacket, closing the door.

"What do you mean?" I whispered back.

"Pet nicknames," he said, making a gagging motion. I pitied him, it must've made him sick to see Eric with Remi.

Soon, saving us from enduring anymore of Remi and Eric's affection, Ronald intervened. "Alan, Eric, William!" He shouted with a laugh, greeting us. He broke Remi and Eric up from their kissing session, greedily grabbing all the presents from Eric's arms, which I was surprised he hadn't dropped. "Ooh gifts! Thanks!" He exclaimed with a sarcastic smirk, skipping into the living room.

I laughed under my breath as I followed him furthur into the room, Alan behind me. "Not all of those are for you, Ronnie." I said, rolling my eyes.

"I know!" He said with a grin. "I just like to think that they are!"

"Ronnie," I sighed, shaking my head. I sat down in a nearby chair as Ronald piled the presents up under the Christmas tree stationed in the corner. "What're we gonna do with you?"

Before Ronald could answer, I was hugged by Grell. "Merry Christmas, Will!" she squealed as she let go of me. I looked her up and down, she dressed like she normally did, red with accents of black and white. On top of her head, she wore a Santa Claus styled hat, the pom-pom tilted to the side. I couldn't help but smile, she looked adorable with the little festive touch.

"Merry Christmas to you, Grell," I replied, looking behind her. I noticed that it wasn't just our regular crew here for the holidays - Sebastian, along with Hannah and Claude, had tagged along with Grell. The three South Demon students sat on one side of the room, Hannah and Claude on the couch and Sebastian waiting for Grell to return to her seat on his lap. I felt my throat close up, I wasn't sure how jolly the holiday would be if they were around.

Thankfully, as Grell returned to Sebastian, none other than Ashlyn Landers entered the room. She gave a small wave to me, her hand partially covered by the sleeves of her violet sweater. I waved back and motioned for her to come sit in the chair by me, which of course, she obliged. "Hey, Will, Merry Christmas. How are you?" she asked, curling her legs up to her chest as she sat down.

"I'm pretty good, what about you?" I replied, smiling. I wasn't expecting Ashlyn to be here, but then I remembered that Ronald had a budding crush on her. A lightbulb went off in my head and it made sense again.

Before Ashlyn could even begin her response, Remi sauntered into the room with an announcement. "Alright, high school losers, let's head out to the garage?"

"What for?" Ronald asked, setting a box back down. He still sat next to the tree, examining and observing every single box that laid under there, even if it wasn't his. Although he was a junior in high school, Ronnie still tended to act like a little kid when Christmas came around.

"Well, 'tis the season for eggnog pong, isn't it?" she asked, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Eggnog pong?" Claude asked, shifting in his chair. He leaned forward, as if he was interested in what Remi had to say. "What's that?"

Remi gasped, backing away as Eric walked up behind her. "Oh, no! Don't tell me you guys have never played eggnog pong before!"

"Is it like beer pong?" Sebastian asked.

"Right on," Remi said, pointing a finger to Sebastian with a smirk on her face. "It's exactly like beer pong, just with eggnog."

"Wait," Ronald said, holding up his hands, signaling her to stop. "Remi, how would you know what beer pong is like? You're only turning twenty next month!"

Remi shrugged, looking away from Ronald. "Not according to my fake ID."

"I can't believe you," Ronald growled, shaking his head as his eyes narrowed. "You got a fake ID?"

"I was being sarcastic, you idiot!" Remi said, hitting Ronald upside the head. "I don't have a fake ID, and I haven't played actual beer pong, I just googled the rules, you dork." She put her hands on her hips, her eyes darting between everyone in the room as she smiled. "So, are we gonna play or what?"

For the most part, everyone willingly followed Remi into the garage, except for Ronald, who literally had to be dragged into the room by his older sister. After explaining the rules, everyone we split into teams of two and played against each other until each team had played every other one. By that time, I had decided that the taste of eggnog was getting old and that it was time for me to go inside. While the other teams continued to play, I wandered into the kitchen and grabbed one of the mugs of hot chocolate before heading to the living room.

I sat in the empty armchair by the window, watching out the window as snow fell against the dark skies. It was peaceful and serene, with the exception of the shouts and cheers erupting from the garage. I chuckled to myself, sipping from my mug. There was a tap on my shoulder, sitrubing me from my alone time. Looking up, I saw Ronald standing above me. "Mind if I join you? Eggnog pong is getting kinda rowdy,"

"Sure," I said with a nod as he sat down next to the window. As he did, I noticed that he also held a cup of hot chocolate, with a little candy cane peeking out of his. He had also stolen Grell's Santa hat, which sat lop-sided on top of his ginger hair.

"Eggnog pong," Ronald muttered under his breath, shaking his head. His eyes were focused on the window before him, yet he still kept his attention focused on our conversation. "That's only something Remi would come up with."

"Yeah," I replied, staring down at my lap. "Okay, this is off-topic, and you're probably gonna think this is a stupid question, but," I looked around, making sure that nobody was nearby so that I wouldn't be overheard, "why did you invite Sebastian, Claude, and Hannah?"

Ronald shrugged, turning his head to face me. "Well, Sebastian is Grell's boyfriend, she'd think I'm a jerk if I didn't invite him," he paused, sipping from his hot coco, "I invited Claude because I wanted to see if they'd make a move on each other and prove to Grell that he's cheating on her, which he totally is. I just know it, and she won't accept it."

"So how's that gone so far?"

Ronald shook his head, "Not well, every time Grell's around Sebastian, which happens to be all the time, he couldn't seem any less interested in Claude." He set his mug down. "But I just know that's what's going on!" he exclaimed, waving his hands around in obscure gestures. "We'll never prove to her what a gay, two-timing, sleaze-ball cheater he is!"

I pursed my lip, taking yet another drink. "That's quite a name you've got there for him,"

"Thank you!" Ronald smiled, sitting upright a puffing his chest out, a smug smile on his lips. "Came up with it myself,"

"So what about Hannah?"

"Eh, didn't seem right not to invite her," he said, tilting his head to the side. "She's kind of a part of Sebastian and Claude's pack, y'know? Like, not inviting Hannah somewhere Claude and Sebastian are invited is like Alan, Eric and I ditching you. It's simply not right."

"Ah, that makes sense."

We sat with each other, watching the snow pile up, drinking hot chocolate, and talking with each other as we waited for the game of eggnog pong to die down, which seemed like it would take forever. We knew that we had become bored waiting on everyone else when Ronald pulled his phone out and insisted we take a 'Christmas Eve selfie', which of course, we did. Instantly, I regretted in partaking in the photo, as I knew he would post it on every single social media website he owned.

Luckily, before he got the chance to, we were interrupted by Grell, who sat down on the floor next to Ronald. She pulled the Santa hat off of his head, replacing it in its rightful position on her own head. I looked around and noticed that everyone else was in the room, finished playing eggnog pong. "So?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "Are we gonna open up presents or what?"


	20. White Christmas

**-Sorry for the extremely long wait on this chapter, I've had a pretty busy week. Anyway, here's the next chapter. I poured my heart, soul, sweat, blood, and tears into this baby. I hope you enjoy! Also on wattpad. Thank you iamcalifornia for bugging me to write this! I probably wouldn't have gotten it done if it wasn't for you!**

*Third Person POV*

Alan plopped down on Ronnie's couch with Eric. On the other side of Eric sat Remi. Alan felt a twinge of jealousy flood through him, Eric was _his_. He had known Eric for longer than Remi! She had no right to act like she was so in love with Eric! Alan huffed as he slouched down farther, pouting.

"You ready to open presents?" Alan looked up to see Hannah. He blushed and scratched his neck awkwardly. Alan wasn't very comfortable around girls.

"Sure," He managed, "but I want to wait until everybody else is done." Hannah nodded and left to retrieve two presents, both wrapped in green paper. She handed one to Sebastian and the other to Claude. They both tore the paper off to identical headphones. Both were black and covered in white kitten stickers. Slightly tacky, but thoughtful.

Eric pulled out a small red box and handed it to Remi. "What's this?" Remi asked giggling. "You know you didn't have to get me anything." She opened it with enthusiasm anyway. Remi let out a gasp when she saw the gift.

"What is it?" Grell asked running up behind Remi. Grell let out a gasp of surprise that mimicked Remi's squeal. Alan tried to look and see, but Eric made a better wall than a window. Poor Alan couldn't see a thing through his friend. "I can't believe you got her a ring!" Grell yelped.

Alan felt his face turn red in envy and annoyance. Eric hadn't gotten him anything, and wasn't even paying attention to his friend. Alan was beginning to feel like William, in love and not even getting a chance! "I gotta go to the -uh-bathroom," Alan said rushing out of the room.

Eric looked worriedly at his departing Alan. He went to go after Alan, but was stopped by his clinging girlfriend. "I have a gift for you too!" Remi chirped. She pulled out a medium sized gift bag covered in sequins. Eric smiled and dug in the bag before pulling out two bottles of Tabasco Sauce, three gift certificates to Game Stop, and a green t-shirt declaring proudly "I am a bomb technician, if you see me running, try and keep up!"

Ronnie urged William with hand motions to give Grell his gift. Will fumbled as he tried to quietly pull out his gift to Grell. Unfortunately for him, Sebastian was much faster. Sebastian pulled out a rectangular box and handed it to Grell with anything but a little ceremony. He kneeled down by her feet, "Here you are, babe." Sebastian smiled sexily as Grell opened the box. Inside lay a pair of red high heels. They were, at the least, six inches tall. Velvet bows sat proudly on the toe of each shoe.

"I love them, Sebastian!" Grell shrieked and tackled Sebastian. She kissed him deeply and Ronnie made a note of how Claude responded to this. Claude winced slightly, then closed his eyes tight until he was sure that the scene was over. Ronnie smirked a little before his sister, Remi, tossed him a gift, catching him off guard.

"Whaaaa!" He yelped as he stumbled to catch the sack holding his gift. Once he regained balance, Ronnie opened the bag to find a huge lump of coal. He picked it up, tapped it on the nearby coffee table, and bit down on it. "Good quality sis!" Ronnie said, laughing.

Nobody noticed the small figure hiding by the bathroom door. Alan peeked his head out to catch a better glimpse of the room. Eric hadn't moved from the couch, Ronnie was now trying to hit Remi with the coal, William was attempting to get to Grell, who was still cuddling with Sebastian. Claude and Hannah were trying to keep from interrupting the scene. 'Now's my chance,' Alan thought happily, 'I can sneak past them and get home!'

"Hey Alan!" Eric waved. Alan tried to smile back, but he wasn't really into it. Eric got up and walked over to Alan, feeling his forehead. "You feeling okay?" Eric kneeled down to his friend's height and felt his throat for any swelling, opened is mouth to check for swollen tonsils, then felt Alan's forehead again for a fever. "You feel a little warm."

Alan blushed profoundly and turned away from Eric. "I'm just feeling a little off." 'Maybe if he thinks I'm sick he'll take me home!' Alan thought.

Eric nodded, "Lets go. You obviously aren't well enough to stay. Probably need sleep and Asprin."

"But Eric," Alan protested, "you'll miss the rest of the party." Everyone looked up at the duo in surprise.

"You're leaving?" Ronnie asked in shock. Eric almost never left a party early!

"Yeah," Eric nodded. "Sorry guys, we'll catch up with you later." With that, Eric led Alan out of the house and to the car.

Eric parked the car carefully and took the key out of the ignition slowly. "You feeling any better Alan?"

Alan shook his head a little, not even bothering to give Eric a verbal answer.

Eric crawled out of the car and waited for Alan to do the same. They slowly walked to the door of their dorm room. Just as Alan went to put the key in the lock, Eric jerked Alan away from the door and pushed him against the wall. He locked Alan's hands down on his sides and leaned in close to his face.

"You're not sick, are you?" Eric asked, smirking because he knew the answer. Alan blushed and looked down and Eric's shoes, pretending to study them.

"So what if I'm not!?" Alan yelled loudly with a huff. Eric narrowed his eyes for a second before scrutinizing his friend's face. He studied the smaller boy for a minute. Frankly, Eric was quite ticked with how Alan had been acting. Alan's yell had been the trigger that set Eric off.

"Alan," Eric questioned, "why the heck have you been acting so moody lately?!" Alan in return winced slightly, Eric usually never used strong language around him.

"I haven't been moody," Alan muttered, blushing as he remembered storming to the bathroom. Eric noticed Alan's pink cheeks and his gaze softened. Then a wide, arrogant smirk spread across Eric's face.

"You're jealous," Eric probed, "aren't you?" Alan began to turn bright red and he struggled to get out of Eric's grip. "That's okay," Eric murmured as he wrapped Alan up in a hug. "I was kind of a jer-"

"Shut up," Alan ordered quietly. He hugged Eric back tightly as he tried to hide his still beet-red face. Eric smiled and picked Alan up and went to unlock the door until Alan squirmed out of his arms while squealing in joy. "Look! Eric, it's snowing! Why don't we stay out?"

"Fine," Eric turned to see the powdery white flakes fall down. Alan ran out in the yard and did what resembled a backwards rain dance. Eric laughed and ran out to join the dancer in the yard. Eric grabbed Alan and twirled him around like a pro. Alan giggled and pirouetted around to fall in Eric's arms. Eric purposely waited until the last second to catch Alan. He gained a squeak from Alan. Then as Eric twirled Alan out a second time, he tripped and fell on top of Alan.

Alan's eyes went wide as Eric fell on him. They were eye to eye, nose to nose, mouth to mouth. Eric blushed darker than Alan had been. Alan smirked a little and pecked Eric lightly on the cheek. "Tag!" He yelled wriggling out from under Eric. Alan bolted across the yard as Eric grumbled.

"That's not fair!" Eric complained as he dashed after Alan. Alan ducked behind a tall oak and tried to climb up it. Unfortunately for him Eric was much faster. He grabbed Alan, wrapping his arms around Alan's waist he pulled the boy out of the tree. "Target captured."

He nuzzled Alan's face with his nose while humming 'White Christmas'. "This isn't how you play tag, Eric," Alan said sighing.

"Screw the rules," Eric smirked, "I'm in a good mood." They stood there, hugging each other for quite some time. Eventually they starting swaying back and forth, perfectly in time to 'White Christmas'.

"Wait," Alan, interrupted Eric's humming. A thought had just dawned on Alan.

"What is it, Alan?" Eric asked confused.

"You're dating Remi," Alan said pulling away from Eric. "You shouldn't be hugging me like this when your in a relationship with someone else." Alan's voice was bitter as reality sunk in. He'd always be second in Eric's heart.

"Oh, crap," Eric said as realization sunk in. He had been all over Alan while he was still dating Remi. "I can't believe I-" Alan began to walk to the dorm and Eric reach out a hand to stop him. Alan shrugged the warm hand off. "Wait! Alan! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"To what?" Alan asked bitterly. "To put me second in your life? To break my heart repeatedly? To pretend you don't love me around other people, but the second we're alone you act like a lovestruck puppy?"

"Alan," Eric said desperately, "that's not what I meant!" Alan ignored him and fumbled to unlock the door to their dorm. When he unlocked it he walked inside and slammed the door shut.

Alan ran to his bed and flung himself down without bothering to change into night clothes. He let himself cry. Tears streamed down his face onto his pillow. Not even an hour later he felt someone, Eric, slowly situate the covers and tuck him in. Alan felt Eric softly stroke his head, "I'm sorry Alan. You'll never know how much I really am."

Eric woke Alan up with the smell of hot chocolate. When the scent hit Alan's nose, he shot up out of bed and ran to the 'kitchen'. "Outta my way Eric! I need my cocoa!"

Eric chuckled, "Someone's back to normal." In truth though, Alan still wasn't himself. He had decided to hide his feelings until Remi fulfilled a promise that had been made ages ago. But no matter how hard Alan tried to hide it, anyone could see he loved Eric.

"And someone owes me ice cream," Alan replied. His eyes were still a little red from crying, but all in all he felt better.

"And ice cream we shall have," Eric agreed. "But first, open your gift." Eric nodded to a package next to the mug of hot chocolate.

Alan happily dove to the hot chocolate and greedily sucked it down. With a sigh of happiness, he set the mug down on the counter and picked up the rectangular gift. Alan tore off the wrapping paper and gasped at the gift. "I can't believe you got me-"

"Call of Duty: Ghosts," Eric finished. He had gotten Alan hooked on the games a while back, and knew full well that his friend had been dying to play this one in particular. "We can play it after we get ice cream."

"B-b-but!" Alan complained.

"I suggest you get a coat," Eric said. "We're going to TCBY."

"We have a TCBY around here?" Alan asked. If there was one, he had never seen it. Eric simply nodded and grabbed his own coat. Alan grinned and ran to grab his blue parka.

"What do you want to eat?" Eric asked. Alan looked up at the selection of frozen yogurts and ice cream.

"I can't decide," Alan admitted. He was a sucker for any kind of frozen treat. "How about a sundae?"

"What kind?" Eric asked. Alan would probably have a list of expectations. He would make sure the sundae was perfect.

"Um," Alan thought for a moment, "Vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and peanuts!"

Eric raised an eyebrow, "Anything else?" Alan shook his head 'no'. "I'll order for us. Can you go find a seat?"

Alan skipped off to a booth by the window and plopped down on one side. He got bored after a minute of waiting and made a paper football out of a napkin and amused himself by flicking it. Alan flicked it a little to hard and it flew out into the middle of the floor.

Alan rushed to pick it up, but a tall figure had beaten him to it. "Looking for this?" The voice was recognized immediately.

"Ashton!" Alan yelped in surprise. Ashton smiled and held the napkin football back to Alan. Alan was stunned, he had never seen Ashton smile before. To be honest though, Ashton wasn't to bad too look at when he smiled. Still, something about the smile made Alan shudder.

"The one and only," Ashton replied. Alan snatched back the napkin. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted ice cream," Alan shrugged. He was barely keeping from calling for Eric.

"Maybe you should keep me company," Ashton leered and stepped closer to Alan.

Alan, in return, took a step back and gulped. He didn't like the look in Ashton's eye. Ashton backed Alan up until his back was digging into the table. "No," Alan whimpered, "go away."

"No," Ashton said, "I don't want to."

"He said go away," Alan and Ashton looked up to see Eric carrying a sundae, a bowl chocolate ice cream, and an angry look. He set down the treats on a nearby table before stalking angrily up to Ashton. "Now he's not saying go away," Eric began, "I'm saying to leave the vicinity before I kick your scrawny butt."

Ashton gulped in fear and slowly backed away from Alan and headed for the exit. He, however, left them with a few words, "You deserve better Alan! Think about it, I'm the better choice."

"I don't think I've ever heard him say anything like that," Alan muttered. Eric growled in the direction that Ashton had went.

"That creep needs to keep his distance," Eric stated. Alan nodded and grabbed his sundae. He took a bite and shivered, though not just from the chill of the ice cream.


	21. Gay Boys and Doritos

**_Hey guys! Once again iamcalifornia has this on her wattpad. She's the co-writer and if it wasn't for her, I'd forget to type up chapters. Anyway, here's another chapter and I hope you enjoy it!_**

*William's POV*

"Oh, William!" she yelped. I was attacked by another round of passion-filled kisses. "Mm! How are you so perfect?!"

I chuckled, fighting back with more kissing before taking a break to reply. "Lemme tell you, it's definitely not an easy job."

Yet another round of kisses came. "Oh! Just your gorgeous thick hair," her hands brushed through my hair, pulling my head closer to hers, "your sparkling green eyes that match your pale complexion so beautifully, oh! My heart melts just thinking about it! And those lips, oh, those luscious, delicious lips! I could kiss them all day!" she sighed with pleasure, forcing her lips against mine, "I love you, William! I love love love you!"

"I love you too, Gre-"

Meow. Meow. Meow meow meow.

Just like that, my dream world disappeared. As soon as it had came, my fantasy had left, and it was all thanks to Artemis's groaning complaints. I rolled over in my bed, turning to look down at the floor, where my cat stared back at me. She cocked her head to the side and licked her lips, her beady golden eyes giving me a dirty look. I shook my head and sighed, disappointed in myself. I had forgetten to feed her last night.

Reluctantly, I dragged myself up and out of bed, picking Artemis up as I did. I carried her with me on my way downstairs and into the kitchen, where I could hear Ethan and James arguing from the living room. Ignoring the commotion they were making, I pulled out the large bag of cat food from the cupboards underneath the sink. I poured some of the cat food in Artemis's respective dish and refilled her water. She pranced over to her bowls, greedily eating her food and lapping up some water. I smiled to myself, glad that feeding Artemis was done and over with for the morning.

I scooped up my cat again, taking her back upstairs. I plopped her down on my bed, earning a surprised meow from her. I decided that there would be no possible way of falling back alseep, so I began to get ready. Changing out of my old pajamas, I threw on a faded t-shirt and a pair of jeans, sliding my tattered Converse onto my feet. I ran my hands through my hair, I didn't particularly feel like going to the bathroom to fetch a comb. I unplugged my phone from its dock and put it in my pocket before heading back downstairs.

After preparing a bowl of Cheerios for myself, I headed out to the living room, despite the racket my cousins were making. I sat down on the couch behind them, while Ethan and James sat two feet away from the TV on the floor, game controllers in their hands.

"Dude!" Ethan exclaimed, elbowing James, "This is the fourth time you've blown up my house, come on!"

"Don't hate the player, hate the game," James responded with a shrug.

"Oh, yeah? I'll hate the player if I want to!" Without missing a beat, Ethan threw his remote to the ground, tackling and wrestling his twin brother. I watched them go at it, a bit surprised by their reactions. It was only Minecraft, after all.

In the midst of Ethan strangling James and James struggling to get away from Ethan, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I slipped it out and checked the caller ID. It read 'The Knoxinator'. I chuckled to myself, I still hadn't bothered to chage his contact after the one time I let him use my phone. I learned my lesson the first time: never let Ronald 'The Knoxinator' Knox get a hold of your phone. Never the less, I slid my thumb over the screen to answer. "Hello?"

"Hey, Will!" Ronald greeted. I could almost hear him smiling.

"Hello there, Knoxinator," I scoffed, kicking my feet up on the coffee table as I sat my bowl of cereal down on it as well.

"So - wait, what's all that noise?"

I pulled my phone away from my ear to watch Ethan body slam into James, causing the two to burst into a fit of laughter. I personally didn't find the two beating each other up amusing, "Cousins," I answered, putting my phone back to my ear.

"Ah, I gotcha. So, what I was going to tell you was-"

"William!" My mother shouted. I turned to see her standing in the doorway, hands on her hips and her face irritated.

"Hold that thought," I covered the microphone, turning to my mom. "What?" I asked.

She sighed and shook her head, "How many times have I told you, no feet on the furniture!" she scolded, stomping over my way and picking my feet up, dropping them to the floor. She turned to look at my still unfinished bowl of cereal and pursed her lips together. "And since when are we allowed to eat in the living room?"

"We're not," I asnwered bashfully.

"Yeah, William, no Cheerios on the couch," James taunted between grunts. I turned to him, only to find him in his brother's chokehold.

"James, we don't need the peanut gallery. Ethan, let go of your brother," mom commanded the two, pointing her finger at them. Don't get my wrong, my mom's a nice woman. But if you rub her the wrong way, she can also be your worst nightmare. Right now was one of those times you didn't want to mess with her.

I shook my head at my younger cousins, "Mom," I pleaded, "just this one time?"

"Okay, fine, if you insist," she relented, "but I swear, if there is any trace of food left in my living room, you're cleaning this entire room, top to bottom. Understood?"

"Understood," I groaned as she retreated back to the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Ethan put James back in the chokehold, attacking his brother. I sighed and returned to my phone, "Sorry about that. You were saying again?"

"Right," Ronald started, "my New Year's Eve party-"

"Didn't you just have a Christmas Eve party?"

Ronald scoffed. In the back of my head, I imagined him rolling his eyes at me and mouthing the word 'duh', "Well, yeah, but what's New Year's Eve without a party, y'know?"

"Touche," I laughed.

"Now, finally," he took an audible deep breath, emphasizing what he was preparing to say, "my New Year's Eve party venue has been changed- we're coming over to your place to celebrate tonight!"

"What?!" I shouted, jumping up from the couch, my foot hitting against the leg of the coffee table and making it wobble. I bent over, putting my hands on it to prevent it from tipping over or spilling my bowl. Once everything was under control, I returned to Ronald, "Seriously?! You planned this and you didn't even ask me! What the heck?! Dude, how do you think my mom is gonna react when she hears this?! Heck, my aunt and uncle and cousins are here-"

"Okay William, first, calm your tits," Ronald interrupted my rant. He was aware that if he hadn't intervened, I would've gone on and on for a while, "second, they should be honored that they get to experience one of the legendary Knox parties."

I sighed and shook my head, sinking back down into the couch, "Just answer me this, Ronnie- why?"

"I've held enough parties in my time, I believe it's your turn now, my young Padawan," he stated, "and, Remi wanted the house empty for her 'special night' with Eric."

I nodded along, trying not to get a mental image, "You don't think they'd-"

"Don't think I don't know what you're gonna ask, because I already asked Remi. She's just making him dinner and thne they'll do couple-y stuff like watch movies and stuff."

"Okay, good," I nodded again, "So, it's just gonna be our regular group minus Eric and plus the Demon High Trio?"

"Well," Ronnie drew out his 'l' and took a deep breath, instantly giving me the impression that the news he was bearing wasn't good, "So here's the deal, I'm just gonna tell you. Grell's sorta ditching us to tag along with Sebastian and his crew to a South High New Year's party," he scoffed, "as if that'll be better than a Knox party!"

"Wait," I said, furrowing my brows together, "so it's just gonna be you, me, and Alan? That's not exactly a party." I like Alan's company but he wasn't really the party type.

"Don't forget Ashlyn!"

"Oh, so she's part of our group now?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"Well, no, it just-"

"Or, are you jealous?" Ronald asked, trying to make his voice low and seductive.

"Dude, I don't think of you like that."

"You think of Grell like that."

"Don't even go there, Knoxinator."

I heard him laughing, "Anyway, I guess it's not really a party, more of a small get-together. Either way, if I'm there, it's epic," I found myself cracking up at his huge ego. I didn't know anybody with a larger ego than Ronald. Grell was a close second to his self-confidence, "It's true!"

"It is," I said between laughs.

"So, is it okay for me to come over around eight?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Make sure you have some Doritos ready for me when I get there. I'm craving them in the worst way and Remi won't take me to the store to buy any." Exactly as I had, Ronald had also failed the driving test.

"Okay, cool. See you then."

"Yep, see you!" With that, Ronald hung up. I turned my phone and set it down on the table, leaning back in the couch. Thankfully, Ethan and James had gotten over their fight and were back at their game. I stared up at the glass and started to think about tonight. 'A party without Grell,' I wondered, 'maybe a break away from her could be a good thing.'

Sure enough, Ronald kept his word and arrived at eight o'clock sharp on my front porch. I too stayed true to my promise and had a bowl of Doritos ready for them. He nearly tackled me upon seeing that I had the chips with me. "Yes! Thank you, thank you! I love you!" he yelped, leaping into my arms and almost making me drop his beloved Doritos.

"Hey look at that. I think we finally get to meet him." I heard James whisper from being me.

"I think we do. Hey, William! Is that your boyfriend?" Ethan's question quickly followed his brother's remark.

I opened my mouth to retaliate, but Ronald beat me to it. He wiggled out of my arms and stood in front of my cousins, sassily placing his hands on his hips. I sighed and put my hand to my forehead, I knew this wasn't going to end well. "Boys, please. Even if William was gay, he still wouldn't be able to get with this," he said, caressing his own chest and hips, causing my cousins to shudder and run away in fear. Ronald turned back to me with a smug smirk on his face, "problem solved."

"I hate you so much," I stated, elbowing him in the gut.

"You know you love me!" he responded, sticking his tongue out.

At that moment, my mom walked past us and into the living room, before backtracking her steps to greet us. "Ronald Knox," she adressed, shaking her head and smiling, "what brings you here tonight?"

"Please, Mrs. Spears, call me Ronnie," he said, copying her friendly smile, "Will and I are having a little New Year's get together."

"Oh," she stated, her eyes becoming wide, "Well, the adults were gonna go out tonight and I was going to have William watch his cousins..."

"It's just a couple people," I protested, "besides, if I sit them in front of the Xbox for a couple hours, they'll be good to go."

"William!" she gasped, then laughed, "Alright, I think you can be responsible enough, at least for tonight. Just make sure that Ethan and James are sent to bed by eleven and that all the guests you have over have left by one, no later."

"Mom," I groaned, throwing my head up to the ceiling. Sometimes I thought she could be a bit too strict.

"I mean it," she said, pointing a commanding finger at me. Instantly, I snapped back into shape. "I'm gonna go finish getting ready and then we'll take off, your father, aunt, uncle and I. Okay?"

"Okay," I replied.

"Okay. I love you, Will," she said, pushing my hair back and kissing my forehead.

"Mom!" I shouted, gently nudging her away. There is nothing more awkward than when your mom shows her motherly love for you in front of her friends. I watched her, she was laughing to herself as she left.

I turned to Ronald, who was having trouble trying to not die of laughter. Once he had somewhat gained control of himself, he proceeded to immitate my mother. "I love you, Will," he said, his voice raising and octave or two higher to mimick a woman's.

"See? I told you they're gay for each other!" Ethan shouted.

"Gay boys!" James added.


	22. Minna Saiko Arigato!

**_This next chapter was inspired by the songs "Beautiful" by Christian Aguilera and "Hello Kitty" by Avril Lavigne. I'm sorry if there is any misspelling with the Japanese words in "Hello Kitty" (forgive me!). Hopefully you guys like this chapter! (To those of you who don't like these song... I'm sorry, We felt that they somehow made this chapter all the more fabulous) IF YOU HAVE BEEN KEEPING UP WITH THIS STORY AND HAVE MADE IT TO THIS CHAPTER, RIGHT NOW I AM GIVING YOU A HUGE HUG FOR PUTTING UP WITH ALL OF THE LATE UPDATES! Thank you again, and happy reading!_**

It took about fifteen minutes for the rest of the 'party' to arrive. Turns out a lot of the 'gang' couldn't show, that just left Ronnie, Alan, Ashlyn, and I. Even Ronald was surprised that the few others he invited didn't come. Usually everyone on the block showed for a famous Knox party. But this 'party' resembled anything but a Knox party. It was just a bunch of teenagers with nothing to do, sitting on bean bags in my basement.

"Doritos anyone?" I asked as I warily held up a bowl half filled with Doritos. Ronnie had take the liberty of commandeering the bowl for the first ten minutes of the party and had emptied almost all of the bowl.

"There's still some left?" Ashlyn asked in amazement, her violet eyes going wide. After watching Ronald inhale the bowl of chips, anyone would be dumbstruck to see crumbs left.

"I do not eat that many Doritos!" Ronnie argued half-heartedly. Even Alan looked bummed out. This New Year's Party was a total bust.

"Any ideas for a game?" I asked, praying that someone would find something - or anything - to do.

Alan brightened a little at the prospect of a game. "How about musical chairs?!" Alan hopped up and down happily.

Ronnie and I busted out laughing. "What are we, three?" Ronnie asked. Alan put his head down in shame. "Dude, we're manly guys that play things lik-"

"Musical chairs!" Ashlyn shot Ronnie a death glare and he quit laughing. Ronald Knox knew better than to defy Ashlyn. She was, after all, the cousin of the most intimidating guy in the junior class. I sighed and went to look for a few chairs in the storage room. I came back with a couple of fold up chairs.

"-and that is how you can get the newest mod for Minecraft." I heard my cousin Ethan explaining his video game to Ronnie. I rushed down the stairs to see Ethan and James sprawled on the basement carpet.

"Hey Will!" Ethan and James greeted me with their most innocent smiles.

"What are you two doing?!" I demanded. I didn't need these two making the party any lamer.

"Talking," James stated.

"Yeah," Ethan agreed, "we weren't doing any harm."

"What's with this gay party anyway?" James sneered. "Where's the chics?"

"Excuse me?!" Ashlyn huffed.

"Pardon my brother," Ethan smirked. "He meant, 'Where's the hot chics?'."

"Okay, that's it, I'm going to kill you, you brats," Ashlyn hissed. Ronnie held her back and I was stuck answering my idiot cousins.

"If you're talking about Grell, she's at the Demon High party," I stated sighing.

"Why's your woman at some other loser's party?" James demanded.

"She's not my wo-"

"Dude," Ethan interrupted, "are you that pathetic that your girl ditched you for some Demon High lackey?"

"Shut up." I ordered. "Number one, Grell isn't my woman. Two, even if she was, Grell's a free person and can do whatever the heck she wants to. Three, do I look like the jerk who would keep his 'woman' from a party she wanted to go to?"

"Dang man," James said shaking his head, "you are one sad dude."

"They have a point," Ronnie pointed out. "Sebastian took Grell when you were going to ask her out. He practically snatched your woman out of your arms."

"And whisked her off to the realm of Demon High," Ashlyn added. She traced an imaginary road through the air in front of her.

"Only to come down with a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome and fall in love with that creep Sebastian," Alan said, earning a laugh from everyone but me.

"Fine then!" I gave in. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Go get your girl!" They all yelled in unison, giving me looks that seemed to ask me if I was stupid.

"Go crash the Demon High party," Ethan advised. "Rescue Grell, come back. Mom won't be back until about 12 o'clock tonight."

"What about you and James?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"We're eleven," They stated. "We can handle being alone."

"Okay," I said warily, "but don't leave the Xbox until I get back, and you can finish off what's left of the Doritos."

With that, Ronnie, Alan, Ashlyn, and I headed to crash a party. Ronnie had said that he knew where Demon High was having the party hosted. Twenty minutes later we parked at the local karaoke bar next to JCPenney's. I looked at the bar and wondered if we were allowed in there.

"Don't they serve alcohol in there?" I asked Ronnie. He shrugged and didn't exit the car. We all sat in Ronnie's car without moving.

Finally Ashlyn broke the silence. "Are you guys sure we should, you know, go through with this whole party crashing thing?" She sounded scared, like she was ready to back out at any moment.

"Nope," Alan replied. "It's just best if you go along with their ideas without thinking. That keeps things like Common Sense from interfering."

I sighed before jumping out of the car. Ronnie joined me and we turned to wait for Alan and Ashlyn. While they mustered the courage to get out of their seats, Ronald checked his hair in the review mirror.

"You're looking so fabulous today, gorgeous!" He complimented himself as he fluffed up his hair. Ronnie then proceeded to flirt with his reflection, complimenting the man in the mirror on his charming smile and dazzling eyes and whatnot.

I rolled my eyes as I heard him repeat himself. I jumped as Alan and Ashlyn's car doors slammed shut. They both waltzed up to the front of the car and looked at Ronnie and I expectantly.

"We going or what?" Alan asked. I nodded and began to walk towards the door of the bar. From outside we could hear the hoots of teenage boys. I grabbed the door handle and politely opened the door for my group of friends.

We all crammed in the doorway and looked about the cramped karaoke bar. At the tables closest to the stage, teenage boys and girls crowded. Out further away by the bar, adults, who looked like they had been through everything, were ordering drinks.

I scanned through the throng by the stage to see Grell practically sitting in Sebastian's lap. She was blushing and laughing happily at something. Ronnie pointed out to me, an angry looking Claude. He was sitting by the couple, frowning. Frankly though, I didn't care much about Claude, I just wanted to get to Grell. I struggled to try and make my way through the crowd to get to Grell. Alan, Ronnie, and Ashlyn followed behind me closely.

I was almost to the couple before a boy the size of an adult rhino plowed past me to hand Sebastian a microphone. He smirked and held it to his mouth, "I'd like to sing this next little number to my babe, Grell."

My eardrums were almost demolished by the screaming of all the Demon High girls at the table to my right. Ronnie clutched his ear and howled in pain. "Grell-Bell, I'd like to sing you Beautiful, because every time I see you, I'm reminded of how beautiful life is with you."

"Oh my gosh," Alan muttered, "is she really going to fall for this crap?"

"I think she already has," Ashlyn sighed. "This is just sickening."

I gulped, realizing that I couldn't interrupt Sebastian's solo without looking like the jerk, so instead I waited. The music began softly as Sebastian hopped onstage, he pulled up a bar stool and motioned for Grell to sit on it. She sat on the stool in the middle of the stage while Sebastian began to softly sing to her. Now Claude was looking really jealous.

"Everyday is so wonderful. Then suddenly, it's hard to breath. Now and then, I get insecure. From all the pain, I'm so ashamed."

I tried to tune him out, but his voice was - I hate to admit it - beautiful, ironic as that sounded. He had what Grell would call, a sweet, alluring, and seductive singing voice. The first of us to be hypnotized was Ashlyn. She began to softly sway to the beat. The song continued on for a while before the melody had ensnared even me.

"We are beautiful, no matter what they say! Yes, words won't bring us down!"

Sebastian smiled softly at Grell and kneeled down on one knee and gently picked up her hand as he finished up the song. He looked my direction and smirked.

"Don't you bring me down-ohhh, today." Grell giggled as her boyfriend finished his song. He smirked and kissed her. With that, Claude got up out of his seat and walked out of the karaoke bar.

Everyone in the room besides the gang and I burst into applause. Ronnie sounded like he was gagging for a minute, "Are you kidding me? Did he have to kiss her?" Ronnie asked.

Sebastian looked at Ronnie, Alan, Ashlyn, and I. Then he smiled and pretended to just see us. "Oh!" He said, "It's you guys! We were wondering when you were going to show!"

"No you weren't," I muttered.

"What was that?" Sebastian asked innocently.

"He said he could sing karaoke better than you any day," Alan lied smoothly. Ronnie and I shared horrified glances. We had never told Alan how bad of a singer I was. Even Grell looked slightly scared and wide eyed at the thought of me singing.

"Really now?" Sebastian questioned. "Would he be willing to have a little sing-off?"

"No Alan please don't do thi-" I begged.

"Anytime, anywhere," Alan assured Sebastian. The Demon High student in question raised his eyebrow before nodding. Sebastian carefully helped Grell off of the stage and set the bar stool back where it belonged.

"Right here, right now." Sebastian demanded, his eyes flashing fuchsia, daring me to decline his challenge. I almost spoke up to decline before he added, "Winner drives Grell home and gives her a good night kiss."

"Fine," I nodded. "Whatever song that comes on first is the one we'll do. That way it's a random and fair song choice."

"Agreed," Sebastian concurred, "DJ, hit the music!" The dude in the sound booth nodded and hit some buttons before a song title showed up on a beaten down screen. "Hello Kitty" by Avril Lavigne.

Sebastian tossed me a second microphone and I swallowed nervously. To my surprise, Ronnie jerked the microphone out of my hand and yelped, "Ronald Knox will be standing in, because not even his best friend takes away Ronald's song!"

Frowning, Sebastian replied, "I'll allow it, but no matter what, I will win." The music began to play and Ronnie hit the song off.

"MINNA SAIKO ARIGATO, KA-KA-KA-KAWAII!" With that battle cry, Ronnie ran and hopped onto the stage. Sebastian joined him in the verse and together they sang and danced.

"Mom's not home tonight," they swayed their hips and threw the hand that wasn't attached to the microphone in the air. I began to chant along with everyone else. Sebastian and Ronald were doing an awesome job with this.

"Come, Come, Kitty, Kitty, you're so pretty, pretty!" They jumped along into the chorus while Ronald did a 360 degree turn, and jerked to a halt only to hold his hands out like paws. Sebastian at the same time however put his one hand on his hip while cocking his hip like a model.

The entire crowd ate up the performance. Especially near the end, where Ronnie and Sebastian got to say "Meowww!" Both of the performers began to dance even more rapidly and did dance moves that even I couldn't put a name to.

"Hello Kitty!" both Sebastian and Ronald said the last line as Sebastian tripped Ronnie. He caught Ronnie in a pose that looked like the 'dip'. Ronnie on the other hand, seemed to of suspected that his rival would do that. He simply bent one knee while running his hand that wasn't holding the microphone, through his hair.

The entire routine looked as though it had been planned. The crowd erupted like a volcano in screams of cheer and admiration at the boys. I screamed the loudest out of everyone. I ran on the stage to high-five Ronnie. "I think that'd be a draw," Sebastian finally said. I agreed wholeheartedly. Neither side had outdone the other.

"What would be a draw?" I recognized the voice immediately and slowly turned around.

"Hey mom," I answered sheepishly. My mother did not look amused in the slightest. She looked ticked-off. I could hear the snickers behind me. It was utterly embarassing for your mother to... well, embarass you in front of your enemies.

"William Theodore Spears," she seethed, "you are getting yourself down from that stage, saying goodbye, heading to whatever bits of the house your cousins didn't destroy, and then you are grounded, young man," I nodded and obeyed her. No one messed with my mother when she was angry. "What were you thinking, leaving James and Ethan home alone!?" She was totally angry.

"They're eleven, mom," I reasoned, "they can take care of themselves." I followed my mom out of the karaoke bar to her car.

"Oh, its not them I'm worried about. It's my living room."

"I left them in front of the Xbox," I said, "they should be fine."

"We'll see when we get home now won't we?" Mom asked. She hopped in the car, and I did the same. We would see for ourselves just what shape the house was in.

And boy, did we see...


	23. Grounded

**_Hey guys! Hope you're enjoying the story! Also, this story is on wattpad under iamcalifornia. So ummmm, I don't think I'm missing anything. Anyway, enjoy!_**

The house was in absolute ruins.

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was still pretty horrible.

After opening the doorway to several empty bags of Doritos, I could already tell my mom had gone into she-devil mode. I heard her inhale a deep breathe, trying to keep her anger under control for the time being. She stormed into the living room, which was completely dark, save the light illuminating from the TV. Her arm extended into the room and she flipped on the light switch, revealing a totally trashed room. She gasped, and her eyes went wide from surprise.

The any visible surface was covered in broken Doritos and candy wrappers. One of the ceiling lights was broken, and the lamp was tipped over. Empty cans of Kick Start were strewn across the room. Some of my old Nerf guns lay scattered about and their darts were everywhere. James was half-laying, half-falling off of the couch and unconscious. Ethan sat two inches in front of the TV, his hands clamped on an Xbox controller and his eyes mesmerized by the game. His head flipped over his should to look at the doorway, where my aunt, uncle, dad, furious mom, and I stood. He smiled sheepishly and removed one hand from the controller, waving at us with a nervous expression. "Oh, I see you guys are home. How was your evening?"

Mom inhaled again, her body tensng up. "Ethan, would you mind explaining what on earth happened in here while we were gone?" she seethed, stepping into the living room. Everything was silent, except for the sound of mom's heels clicking against the floor as she walked up to my younger cousin, who looked up at her in fear.

"Well," he started, drawing out his 'l'. I could tell that he was going to attempt stalling, but after one glare from my mom, he got the message that he should stop trying. "Aunt Marta, see, it's all William's fault."

My jaw dropped as soon as the words left his mouth. The little liar! I couldn't believe he was blaming this on me. "Oh?" my mother asked, tilting her head to the side, "How so? Please elaborate, Ethan."

"He left James and I all alone so he and his stupid friend could go to some stupid party so William could meet up with his stupid girlfriend," he started, averting his gaze from my mom's.

"That's not true!" I shouted out, running up behind my mom, "Mom! He's lying, it's not true!"

"Shush, William," my mom commanded, holiding up a finger to my mouth to silence me. She didn't even turn to face me. "Let your cousin give me his side of the story first. Continue, Ethan."

"Then, James and I got hungry, right? Because William forgot to make us supper before he left for the party. Well, we aren't exactly cooking masters, and all we could find were the energy drinks, Doritos, and candy, so we ate that up," Ethan shrugged and gestured over to James, "that's what happened to poor James, sugar crash. Poor guy."

"How'd that light get broken?" Mom asked, her finger pointing mercilessly up at the broken bulb, "And why is my 1950s vintage lamp knocked over?"

Ethan shook his head, "I suppose that part didn't involve Will, but when James and I were on our sugar high, he thought it'd be a good idea to get Will's nerf guns and have a little war. One of the darts shot into the bulb, and I fell into the lamp." I shrugged to myself and rolled my eyes, that part was probably true. But there was still no way that I'd be able to make my side of the story seem believable after all the lies Ethan told.

Mom turned around and faced me, her lips formed into a fierce frown. "You, young man, are grounded."

"What?!" I shouted, stepping back. "Mom! You haven't even allowed me to give my side of the story yet!"

She shook her head and pointed down at Ethan. "I trust your cousin, do you think he would lie to me?!" she asked. From underneath her arm, I could see that Ethan was smirking up at me. I shook my head at him and shot him a dirty look. Sometimes cousins could be the worst thing ever. She sighed, "William Theodore, you're grounded for two months."

"Mom!" I groaned, throwing my hands out in exasperation, "two months?"

Mom scoffed and glared at me. "You left your innocent cousins all alone! And James got a sugar crash! And they tore up my living room, all because you were irresponsible and didn't stay home to watch them!"

My dad sighed and walked into the lviging room, taking place behind my mom and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Marta, don't you think you're being a bit harsh on him? I mean, two months?" he asked, concerned.

"Jim," she stated, turning her head to face my dad, "the boy will never learn his lesson if he doesn't face some form of consequence. I want him to grow up to be a responsible and respectable young man, and he won't if he doesn't learn discipline," she retorted.

My dad shook his head and backed away. "Alright, if that's what you believe." He turned to face Ethan, "Ethan, it's really late. I think you should head to bed now."

Ethan nodded as he stood up and walked over to my dad, wrapping his arms around my dad and giving him a hug. "Okay, goodnight, Uncle Jim." he proceeded over to my mom, "Goodnight, Aunt Marta." he came up to me next. He looked me up and down, frowning. "William," he muttered as he walked out of the living room and down the stairs to the guest bedroom. My uncle followed into the room and picked James up from the couch, following Ethan into the basement. My aunt followed him, failing something about 'my baby'.

My mom turned to me again. "I am so, so disappointed to you. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, you are starting the clean-up process of this room, and you will not stop until it's back in its original state, understood?"

"Understood," I nodded, looking down at my feet. I almost would have preferred to have gotten yelled at, the disappointment speech was always the worst.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see my mom. She had lost her she-devil approach and he now had a sad smile on her face. "It's late. I think you should go to bed."

"I will," I agreed. "I'm sorry."

She sighed, "I suppose I can forgive you. I just expect better behavior out of you, okay?"

"Okay, goodnight."

"Goodnight, I love you."

"Mom!"

I groaned and rolled over, rubbing the sleep away from my eyes. I groaned and covered my face with my hands upon remembering I had cleanup duty. I slipped my legs out from underneath my covers and stretched, emitting a yawn. I was halfway down the stairs when I heard something.

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock

I cocked my head to the side, massaging my neck with my hand. I knew that someone was at the door, but I was not in the mood to deal with people. Still, I didn't want to be rude or leave them waiting out there forever, so I went to the door and opened it up anyway. I blinked a couple of times, and instantly I regretted not putting my glasses on; everything was blurry. But thanks to the large blob of red, I had a suspicion of who it was. "Grell?" I asked groggily.

"Hi, Will," she greeted, letting me know that it was indeed my red-haired friend. "You're, um, ah-"

"Missing my glasses?"

"Well, yeah."

"I kind of knew that, thanks."

"I'm surprised you didn't fall down the stairs."

"Hey," I scolded, pointing in her direction. But from what I could make out of her expression, I wasn't exactly on target, "you remember what happened last time someone fell down the stairs. Don't mention that again, that was awkward for the both of us."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry," she apologized. I could hear her tapping her foot. From the sound of the rythmic clicking, I was sure she was wearing the new heels that Sebastian got her on Christmas Eve. "Can I come in?"

"Oh," I said, snapping back to reality. "Yeah, uh, sure. Come on in," I said, stepping out of the way to let her inside. I held the door open, making sure not to close the door on her.

She tilted her head to the side, looking at me with concern. "I'm just gonna go ahead into the living room, why don't you go get your glasses and then we can talk."

"Sounds good," I said as I started up the stairs. I fumbled around in my room a bit, having trouble finding my glasses. Eventually, I was able to locate them. I headed back downstairs to the living room, everything clearer now. Grell sat down on the couch and she patted the seat next to her, motioning for me to sit down, to which I happily obliged.

"So," she started, tensing up, "your mom came into the karaoke bar and took you home, huh?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

She chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "What happened after that?"

I sighed and shook my head, "Like she said while we were there, I got grounded. And now," I gestured to the still disarranged room, "I've got to spend the whole day cleaning this up."

"Wow," Grell gasped, "that's a bit harsh."

"Yeah," I trailed off, "so what happened after I left?"

"Well, Ronald, Ashlyn, and Alan left right after your parents took you home. They said they didn't wanna stick around if you weren't there to have fun with them. Then, Sebastian started acting really weird. Like, he was really concerned about where Claude was and what he was doing and whatever. He wouldn't even look at me, he was glued to his phone, waiting for a response from Claude. Then, he left. He just left! He was my ride there and was supposed to be my ride home, but he left without me! I didn't have my car, so I had to hitch a ride with Hannah! And she played some really creepy music," she shuddered.

Grell continued talking on and on about her night's problems, and somehow I found myself smiling. I missed how she would come to me with all of her issues and pour out her heart and soul to me. She rambled on and on, making wild gestures with her hands and arms. I was finally brought back to realtiy with a certain statement. "You know, I'm starting to think Ronnie was right."

"Huh?" I asked, "Right about what?"

"About... y'know..." Grell looked around nervously, as if there was someone nearby who would overhear. She held her hand up to her mouth to exaggerate her announcement even more. "The possibility of Sebastian and Claude... y'know, being gay for each other, for lack of a better way to explain it."

I chuckled and leaned back on the couch, "Well," I started, stopping myself from continuing by laughing, "it's highly possible."

"I know," I was surprised to hear her agree with me, "the way they look at each other just tells me that he cares about Clude more than he cares about me." Her lip quivered and she shook her head, I knew that the tears were coming up.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound comforting. I scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm around her. "I'm sure he loves you."

A single tear rolled down her cheek and she looked into my eyes. "I'm not so sure about it anymore." she chocked out. WIth the last word, her voice cracked, and so did her ability to keep from crying. She started wailing and threw herself forward to me, tears seeping through my shirt. Her hands gripped my shirt, her nails almost clawing into my chest.

Awkwardly, not knowing how else to comfort her, I stroked her hair. It was sleek and silky and smelled faintly of strawberries. I pursed my lip, I couldn't let her cry like this forever. I picked her up off of my chest and sat her back up. She allowed me to, her body limp like a rag doll. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout and her eyes were red from crying. I reached forward and wiped away a few left over tears on her cheeks. "We need to find you a distraction, something that will get your mind off of this whole 'boyfriend cheating on you with another boy', and fast."

She sniffed and shook her head. "Like what?"

I looked around, my eyes darting around the living room. "How about helping me clean the living room?"


End file.
